


A Fox's String Theory

by Zaphirite



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: More tags later, Multi, Not Canon Compliant, past miraculous heroes
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-05-04
Updated: 2017-08-17
Packaged: 2018-10-27 22:05:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 23,757
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10817685
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Zaphirite/pseuds/Zaphirite
Summary: (“What does that mean--'tame'?""It is an act too often neglected," said the fox. It means to establish ties.")Ladybug and Chat Noir have grown stronger after a year of being heroes, but so has Hawk Moth. Two new heroes are thrown into the fray with little time to uncover the story behind Hawk Moth's appearance and to prevent the past from repeating itself. (Written before Season 2’s release, not S2 canon-compliant.)





	1. Draw Me A Sheep

**Author's Note:**

> Surprise, I'm still alive and kicking! I've been working on this fic for months now, and finally I have enough progress that I'm comfortable enough to start posting it!
> 
> This isn't really a speculation fic as I'm not following some of the spoiled material from S2, so take this as an AU and some guesses into how the miraculouses can possibly be connected. I kind of ran crazy with it, so hopefully y'all will enjoy <3
> 
> Find me like always on Tumblr at crispypata! I might also be adding art to this fic like I did with Paws, it depends on the response!

“There is something you two must know.”  
  
Ladybug and Chat Noir sat before the guardian of the miraculouses in the middle of his parlor. They looked anxiously at each other before Master Fu sat down as well, setting a tea pot on the table.  
  
He carefully poured each of them a cup as he continued to explain, “You will be gaining new allies soon. There is too much risk to leave the last two miraculouses dormant.”  
  
“Will we get to know who they are? Can we choose them?” Chat took his cup of tea with thanks, staring into it as the sparse leaves settled on the bottom.  
  
Fu held a hand up as he put down the teapot. “I have already chosen. I can't tell you who they are, but I'm sure you will all work well once they get a hold of things.”  
  
Ladybug took her cup and placed it down again on the table. “Master Fu, what’s so dangerous that you had to pick new heroes?”  
  
Fu smiled back, reassuring the worried heroes. “Things have been stagnant, haven't they? Your last few fights with Hawk Moth have brought neither you two nor him closer to your goals. Things may change soon, and I want you and your new allies to be ready for it.”  
  
“In what way are things going to change?” Chat’s expression grew as serious as Ladybug’s.  
  
“I will explain in full once your allies have accepted their roles. Until then, stay vigilant, and don't let them be seen until they are ready. Just a moment-” The old man stood up, ignoring the popping in his joints that caused Chat’s ears to stand up in alarm. “Wayzz, could you explain how they should guide the new heroes?”  
  
Wayzz’s eyes flickered between his wielder and the ancient box before nodding in understanding. “Of course, master.”  
  
Master Fu moved over to the box holding the remaining two miraculouses. The fox and the bee would soon be awakened after decades of silence. He had only made one mistake in the past as guardian of the miraculous stones. He only hoped that it would be his last.  
  
With the press of a hidden button, a drawer on the side popped open. Inside were five feathers; four were still vibrantly blue, and one had almost faded to white completely.  
  
A burst of laughter caught his attention, and Fu looked back to the two teenagers talking with Wayzz. He couldn’t help but smile at the way the two heroes eased into the situation - in only a matter of months, they’ve grown well into their roles. They were young, but they were brave. There was no doubt he had chosen well for the Ladybug and the Black Cat miraculouses.  
  
Chat Noir prodded at Wayzz’s antenna, but the turtle continued his explanation undeterred. It wasn’t until he noticed his master’s gaze that he stopped and held up a flipper to ward off Chat’s hand. “Is something the matter, master?”  
  
The old man shook his head, closing the drawer and letting his hand slip slowly from the magical box. The warmth from it lingered in his palm, moving up his arms and settling in his whole body. Concern cast on Wayzz's face, even as Fu sat back down across the heroes at the table.  
  
Yes, they were young, inquisitive, and still very much themselves underneath the mask. Master Fu couldn’t help but think of his old team, back when he used to be in the action.  
  
Because of that, more than anything, he hoped that he could fix that one mistake with the time he had left.  


* * *

  
  
As soon as the wave of magic washed over town hall and restored everything to normal, Alya instinctively followed Ladybug as she escaped the scene and avoided the crowding reporters. Chat had ditched a few minutes earlier - panic suddenly suddenly struck both their faces and Ladybug urged him to go on ahead.  
  
Alya ran as fast as she could, alert to the reeling sound of Ladybug’s yo-yo. She glanced down at her screen - the stream had already ended, but she had the camera ready to start recording. She turned down one street and ran into an alleyway.  
  
What she wasn't supposed to hear was another set of footsteps thudding on the asphalt behind her.  
  
Alya switched to the front-facing camera and held it up over her shoulder as if she were pointing it up at the rooftops to peek behind her. On her screen, she could see a man behind her preparing his camera and then pointing it up in the same way. He wore casual clothes, but a hat and sunglasses obscured his identity.  
  
Not these damned paparazzi again. They've only become a problem after the Volpina incident, and they seem to have no qualms spreading rumors about the city’s heroes. It was the exact opposite of the ethical standards Alya strived for as a reporter.  
  
Now it seemed like they were tailing one of the only credible sources for news on Ladybug. If exploiting her efforts is what this guy wanted, then he would get what he deserved.  
  
Alya kept her phone pointed up, yelling and running even faster as if she spotted something. The man behind her struggled to keep up even from a safe distance away as she took the long, winding way back towards a more public area. If she couldn't shake him off and make him give up, then it was time for a more direct approach. She switched the camera mode again and hit record.  
  
Alya whipped around on her feet to face the stalker with her phone pointed at him. “Back off! You're not getting Ladybug’s secrets out of me!”  
  
“Come on, girlie, I’ll pay you for it. Hell, I'll even let you spill the story first before I get it printed.” The man still had his camera ready, scanning the rooftops for his opportunity.  
  
Alya immediately shook her head. “No way. I'm keeping her and Chat safe from creeps like you. And don't even bother looking, I took you the wrong way. Ladybug is long gone.”  
   
“You can't keep her to yourself forever,” he warned, leaning in closer and casting his shadow over her.  
  
His press badge slipped out from under his collar in the process, dangling right in front of her phone.  
  
“No, but I can tell the city to keep her from the likes of you.”  
  
The man glanced down at his badge in alarm and instantly reached for her phone to delete the evidence. Alya jumped back in time with a yell, somehow still keeping her phone steady enough to catch everything on the recording.  
  
That was all it took.  
  
People heard her scream and began to approach the scene, surrounding the man so they could call the authorities, but he ducked out of the crowd and ran for it. The other concerned adults asked if she was okay.  
  
Alya eased their worries, not wanting to get in a huge mess that could possibly get herself grounded if her parents found out. She had protected the heroes, that was the only thing she cared about.  
  
In any case, she needed to be home soon to watch the twins. There was still enough time if she ran-  
  
As soon as Alya turned and started running, she crashed into an old man, and they both fell to the ground.  
  
“Oh no, I'm sorry young miss.” He attempted to reach for his cane, but Alya scrambled on her knees to grab it and help him up.  
  
“No, no, it’s my fault! I'm sorry, I didn't look where I was going. Are you alright?” She handed over the cane and looked him over, but he seemed just fine.  
  
“Yes, yes, I’ve been through worse.”  
  
A glance at her phone already showed a text from her mother asking if she was home yet. She quickly sent a response and hoped that the twins didn't get a call to confirm she was actually home.  
  
Alya looked back up at the sky with a sigh, resigned to her possible fate. If her mom wasn’t busy, she could just check the blog for the last broadcast.  
  
“Well, it’s still worth it. I can always talk to Ladybug later, but I gotta watch her back too if there’s jerks like that,” Alya said to herself. She looked back to the old man, pocketing her phone. “Sorry again for crashing into you, sir."  
  
She waved and spun back toward the street she needed to head down.  
  
“Wait, miss!” Alya stumbled to a stop and turned around. The old man held up her bag in his hand. “You dropped this.”  
  
“Oh-” she patted her shoulder in confusion before walking back. “I didn't even notice I dropped it. Thank you!”  
  
Slipping the bag over her shoulder, Alya looked around once more for safety before running off towards home.  
  
  
Once in her room Alya dumped her bag on her bed, flopping into her computer chair. She let her head slump back over the headrest with a frustrated yell as she spun in circles.  
  
“Today could have been the day if it wasn’t for that dumb paparazzo,” she muttered to herself as she toed her chair over to the bed, reaching for her bag. “Seriously, even I wouldn’t tell the whole city about if it I found out. That’s why I cut the stream when I chase after her.”  
  
Alya fished around blindly with one hand for her charger, peering into her bag when she couldn’t find it.  
  
“Where is- ...what?”  
  
A small black box was sitting on top of her charger in her bag. Alya picked it up, squinting closely at it.  
  
It was hexagonal and made of wood with red marks etched in the lid. It rattled when shook, and after some careful analysis of the outside, Alya finally opened it.  
  
She yelled as a bright orange light shot out of it into the air above her.  
  
The ball of light faded, revealing a tiny, orange fox creature. It rubbed its eyes for a moment, but as soon as they opened, the fox darted around the entire room, passing over the girl right in front of them.  
  
Alya was too busy gasping in realization as she looked down at the necklace in the box and back up at the fox.  
  
“Ooooh, what do I have here this time?” Its raspy voice crackled with excitement.  
  
The orange creature zoomed around the room, peeking inside drawers and throwing notebooks open to random pages without actually bothering to read them.  
  
“Hey- wait!” Alya followed it, closing everything the inquisitive blur had opened. “You’re related to Ladybug, aren't you?”  
  
The fox paused, turning to finally study her. After a moment, the fox’s mouth split into a grin and a cackle-like sound slipped through their teeth. “I've got myself a clever girl too! But where are my manners?”  
  
Finally the creature settled down, sitting on the open jewelry box still in Alya’s hand. “I'm Trixx, kwami of the fox Miraculous. And you, my girl, are my new wielder. Any questions?”  
  
Trixx’s eyes narrowed in delight, tail swishing back and forth before slipping under the necklace’s chain.  
  
Any questions? Where did she even begin?  
  
“Do you know Ladybug? Who she is, I mean.”  
  
“I'm a fox, not a rat,” said Trixx, sticking her snout in the air and crossing her tiny arms. “And I have known many Ladybugs in the past, but not yours. Neither should you be asking me that, honestly.”  
  
Alya reached for her phone on her desk, scrambling to unlock it. “I just need a picture of this, I can't believe-”  
  
Chomp.  
  
Like a magnificent fish, Trixx leapt up and bit onto the ladybug phone charm, cutting the cord clean in two. Out of surprise, Alya fumbled with the jewelry box and her phone, eventually setting them both down. The fox spat the charm out and and it clattered against the desk, wobbling until the momentum ceased.  
  
“What was that for? I made that!” Alya picked up the severed charm, trying to figure out a way to fix it.  
  
Trixx slapped her forehead before throwing up her paws in the air. “Is none of this yelling out ‘I should keep this a secret’ to you?”  
  
Alya mimicked the gesture. “Do you know how long I’ve been dreaming of this moment? I'm a reporter, I can't help it!”  
  
“And I’m a god born at the very dawn of time, what of it?”  
  
Alya cupped up the fox in her hands, bringing Trixx closer to her face. The kwami kept an unamused face, tail lazily swishing back and forth.  
  
“Are you really that old?”  
  
“That's your comeback?” Trix cackled before floating up and landing on Alya’s head. Tiny paws experimentally kneaded her thick hair. “...nah, I'm pulling your leg! Kinda. That's some backstory you’ll learn about later. Anyway, I haven't eaten in decades, you got any bugs?”  
  
Alya tilted her head up even though she couldn't look at the kwami on her head. She decided to leave the age questions for later when the kwami was feeling more cooperative. “Bugs…?”  
  
Another snicker. “Kidding again. I'll take berries, if you don't mind. Fresh, not frozen!” Trixx moved again to inspect the messy sheets on the bed.  
  
“Berries. Right. Gotcha.” Alya nearly bolted out of her room, freezing only when she shoved her door open a little too enthusiastically and it slammed against the wall. The twins poked their heads over the back of the couch for a second before turning back to the TV.  
  
Alya waited a second longer to make sure they were turned away, then headed to the fridge. Berries weren’t a odd thing to have, but if it was the only thing Trixx ate, then trips to the farmers' market might become a regular thing. Maybe Marinette would want to come along on the Saturday morning ones.  
  
There was a carton of raspberries hiding in the back. Alya squinted at them, not finding an expiration date, but they seemed still good. She took another peek at the twins before sneaking back to her door. They were just watching tv while eating cereal and playing with their toys-  
  
Alya did a double take. Ella was holding an ancient fox deity in her hand. Said fox was staying as still as possible, eyes wide open and staring back at Alya.  
  
She dropped the carton on the nearest table and vaulted over the back of the couch, trying to stay calm. Not so casually, she asked, “Hey! Where-where did you get that?”  
  
Etta looked up at her sister and pointed to the carpet near the hallway. “It just was there on the floor.”  
  
“It's super soft and cute, I want one!” Ella tugged at Trixx’s ear, making the kwami quietly whine in pain as her face struggled to stay frozen.  
  
Alya snatched her hand away and tried to grab Trixx, but Ella leaned back out of reach. “It’s a… it’s a really limited edition special, uh, Majestia toy! It's really expensive and rare, so you can't play with it, sorry.”  
  
Ella dodged again, making a sour face. “You always buy toys we can't play with.”  
  
“I know, but this one is suuuuper special to me. There's only one like this that makes it so realistic! Now come on.”  
  
Alya held out her hand, but Ella still refused, clutching the kwami closer and petting her head.  
  
Etta asked for the both of them, “Why don't you get any toys we can play with?”  
  
Calling the collection of things in her room 'toys' wasn't wrong, but Alya bought many things that weren't toys—like figurines. All the official Ladybug merch that came out recently had all been put on the highest shelf, completely out of the twins’ reach.  
  
To a kid, that probably wasn't that fair, especially considering some of those things were marketed to their age group.  
  
Alya raised her right hand. “I promise the next time I stop by the toy store when new Ladybug stuff comes out, I will buy you any toy I don't have to fight anyone for, that sound good?”  
  
The twins looked at each other, considering the offer between them before nodding. Ella held out the poor kwami. “Okay, but you promised!”  
  
Alya quickly retrieved her partner from her sister’s grasp. She stuck Trixx in her shirt pocket and could feel the fox wriggle around. “Now come on, dad should be home soon. We gotta clean the rest of this up before he catches you eating cereal for lunch.”  
  
The eldest sister grabbed the twins' empty bowls and sighed with relief as she put them in the sink. Maybe she should invest in a better door lock or even a safe for hero stuff. She headed back to her room with a hand over her pocket to hide Trixx’s movement.  
  
With afterthought, she called back, “You two better be done with your homework if you’re watching TV! I’m going to check in a few minutes!” before shutting the door. She could hear backpack zippers a moment later.  
  
“Looks like I can't just go wherever I please,” Trixx laughed, floating back in the open. Her nubby arms reached out to the carton. “Anyways, what did you get for me?”  
  
“Trixx, you can't just wander out wherever if you’re supposed to stay a secret! My family is home most of the time!” Alya reprimanded her new partner, hiding the berries behind her back. Today was just a huge game of keepaway.  
  
“Boooooo, I hate when this happens. My last wielder could let me out anywhere while he was at work and I'd be fine,” Trixx whined as she looped aimlessly around the room. “Plus I _love_ kids! Can’t help if I miss the little tyrants.”  
  
“Your last-” Alya put the carton down on the desk so she could sit down herself. “Trixx, you said you were last awake decades ago, right?”  
  
The fox's sullen act was quickly dropped. “Yup, my last kit owned a toy store - funny, right? I was hiding in plain sight most of the time. That's how I got my good acting skills. The place probably doesn’t exist anymore though.”  
  
Alya reached out her hand for Trixx to land in. “How many past fox heroes were there? Is yours still alive? Were any of them famous?”  
  
“The past is in the past, nothing you need to know,” Trixx shrugged off simply before moving to sniff the container of raspberries. “Ehhhhh, they're not my favorite, but they’ll have to do.”  
  
The tiny fox tore open the plastic carton and messily devoured everything.  
  
Alya hoped her mom wasn't actually planning on using them for something as she saw the container completely cleaned out in mere minutes. Red juice stained the fur around the kwami’s face and chest, making it look like the site of a successful hunt. Trixx patted her bloated stomach and sighed with satisfaction.  
  
“Say, what do you want to be when you grow up?” A burp that should not have come out from such a tiny creature followed.  
  
“A reporter, of course,” Alya paused, looking down at the feigned thoughtfulness on the fox’s face. “You’re really not good at staying on one topic are you? You keep asking silly questions and not telling me anything about being a hero.”  
  
Trixx licked a paw and began washing her face. “Humor me on this silly question then - if you have two things, one genuine and one completely indistinguishable imitation, which one is worth more?”  
  
“The real one, of course.”  
  
Of course. That answer slipped out of her without a moment of hesitation.  
  
“Why?”  
  
Trixx watched expectantly, mouth pulled into a soft smirk that grew slowly as the silence stretched on.  
  
“Because it’s the truth…” Alya thought the answer would come just as easily.  
  
It didn't.  
  
If the real thing and the fake were presented at the same moment without being labeled, how could you even measure that without knowing? Knowledge was what made the real worth more.  
  
But between the truth and the lie, the truth was always worth more.  
  
If this was a test, it was way too vague to just give a simple ‘this or that’ answer to. It wasn't a matter of being right, it was a matter of knowing why it was right.  
  
“Kakakakaka!” Trixx started cackling, and only then did Alya feel her face relax its tense expression. “Don't think too hard on it. When the time comes, I'll tell you a secret about the answer.”  
  
The fox smiled softly to herself, face completely smug.  


* * *

  
  
“Mmmm, okay, now I'll tell you a little bit more.”  
  
Alya looked up from her homework at the tiny fox, who now seemed a little satisfied with the makeshift den she had made out of a decorative storage jar and numerous small things from around the room. Not that it stopped her from inspecting every other nook and cranny in the room.  
  
“So, any other questions now that you’ve calmed down?” Trixx seemed done raiding her closet, dragging a scrap of cloth over the jar to cover it.  
  
Alya looked down at her sparse writing. In the margins of her history notes, she'd already written out some thoughts. “So, the Volpina from before was an akuma, but do you have similar powers to her? Or did she make all those up?”  
  
“More or less, it depends on the potential of the wielder. Everyone is different, so they unlock different ways to use their powers. Yes, you can fly, you have super strength, and you can create illusions. But the specifics are all up to you.” Trixx settled in the jar, pawing around to make herself comfortable.  
  
“Wait, I really can fly? Why can I fly while Ladybug can't?”  
  
“Maybe here and now they don't, but elsewhere foxes are seen as very magical, otherworldly creatures. Feared, revered as deities even - some of my most successful kits were seen as exceptional humans, even to the point of saints or gods themselves.” Trixx sniffed the air and glided out of her den to rummage in another drawer in the desk. Various cords and utensils were tossed out in her wake as she kept searching. “Plus, the ladybug and black cat miraculouses are unparalleled in hidden potential. They're so powerful that it takes certain circumstances to unlock all their abilities out of safety. The butterfly miraculous that Hawk Moth took is example of that concern.”  
  
This grabbed the reporter’s attention. “What can you tell me about Hawk Moth? You have to be able to tell me about the bad guy, right?”  
  
“That’s for someone else to do when you’re ready. Besides, I think you should be the one filling me in.”  
  
Trixx nodded to a cork board hung on the wall, where a chart with many pins connected by strings made a crowded red web.  
  
A classic string theory board. It didn't do much for actual problem solving, but she kept it updated anyway with every new clue she got. Maybe one day she could post it on the blog after Hawk Moth was captured.  
  
Alya hummed in acknowledgement, absentmindedly drawing circles on her paper.  
  
So in terms of power, this also meant she was like a sidekick to the two heroes? It definitely didn't make sense to have so many insanely powerful weapons exist at once.  
  
The superhero cartoons she grew up with came to mind, though maybe they didn't all unite their powers to form a greater being like Voltron or Captain Planet - Alya snorted at the idea of a beastly humanoid made of all their animal elements. The butterfly wings wouldn't exactly strike fear in anyone.  
  
“Say, you do realize that this is not going to be an easy job being the fox Miraculous hero, right? I'm pretty sure you do, but just making sure.” Trixx dove in and out of all the containers on the desk, pulling out pencils and uncoiling cords in her wake.  
  
Alya set everything back in place as soon as Trixx left something alone. “Of course I do! I’ve been recording all of Ladybug’s fights since she first appeared. I know it's not easy becoming a hero, but how hard can it be to win the city over like she and Chat Noir did?”  
  
Trixx didn't find whatever she was looking for and rummaged through the decorations hung all over and on the desk. She glanced down at Alya's homework before turning her head back to the decorations. “Ooooh, what's this?”  
  
Alya snapped out of her thoughts to see Trixx pawing at a doll. It was a little, simplified crocheted doll of Lady Wifi, a gift from Marinette when she was learning how to make them. Little red beads for eyes stared blankly back at the fox.  
  
“That's me as an akuma.” She paused, not really sure how else to explain it. The memories were fuzzy and she still felt guilty about the whole thing. Honestly she wanted to forget all about it. “Almost everyone in our class got akumatized, but I guess a good thing was that I looked cool.”  
  
Alya tried to laugh it off awkwardly, making a mental note to hide the doll when she could. Trixx studied the doll even more intensely, and after pulling it this way and that to look at it from all angles, she firmly nodded. “I'm taking this too.”  
  
“Wait, what? Why?” But the kwami already snatched the tiny yarn doll and swooped back into her den without a word.  
  
Alya was only left in silence to stare at the necklace still sitting in the box on the table. Unlike the one she saw on Volpina when she appeared, this one was much more understated. When the box was first opened in the split second before Trixx emerged, it did look exactly the same. Now that Trixx was out and about, it had changed into a silver necklace, and the tail charm was now a small, white...onion-ish shaped charm that gave off a pearly sheen.  
  
Slowly, she picked up the necklace and hooked it around her neck. The silver felt cool against her skin but the enamel charm itself wasn't cool _or_ warm - like it already matched her own body temperature.  
  
Experimentally, Alya picked up the charm and let it drop against her chest.  
  
It didn't feel different from any other necklace except that it had a little weight to it. Not that she expected a giant surge of power or anything… but it would be nice if at least _something_ felt different, just to confirm that all this absurdity was real.  
  
It wasn't what Alya had expected.  
  
Admittedly, she did believe in the radioactive ladybug bite theory for a long time until she deduced that the earrings were important. Maybe it was a family heirloom, a title passed down from generations before. While there weren't any other masked heroes in the past wearing superhero suits, the spots were a dead giveaway.  
  
The closer she looked, the more red and black popped up in the greater stories of history.  
  
Not to mention the Pharaoh akuma back then _literally_ called the person in the papyrus scrolls “Ladybug”. That incident alone had her scouring the internet for days on Egyptian history.  
  
There was the theory that Ladybug and Chat Noir were immortal deities who were thousands of years old and could also change their appearances kind of like vampires. Ladybug’s earrings were key to her powers, but nothing suggested that she couldn't also be the same person as the Ladybugs before her. Maybe the earrings granted her eternal life.  
  
Red, like the mythical philosopher’s stone. It wouldn't be too bad of a theory either, if it was alchemy and not magic that gave her powers. Definitely would be a cool alternate take on things anyway; the fanfic writers on her blog’s forums would have a field day with it.  
  
The little fox, her kwami, threw all those theories right off the shelf with no answers and only many more questions.

* * *

  
  
Another two hours passed and Trixx did not emerge from her hiding place. When the fox wouldn't respond to her questions, Alya gave up and finished her homework.  
  
Soon enough, her parents came home and everyone sat down together at the dinner table like usual.  
  
Suddenly, Alya had no idea how to act cool. How could she when, only a couple feet away in her room, a trickster god was sleeping in a pile of assorted handkerchiefs and gloves and who knew what else the thief stole from around the room?  
  
Ella and Etta tried to whine about eating their vegetables. Her mom talked about so-and-so fancy guest staying at the Bourgeois hotel this week. Her dad talked about a little kid who spent time talking to many of the animals at the zoo.  
  
Normally Alya was a part of this conversation, but now she couldn’t help but take in how ordinary this was compared to the major discovery she had a couple hours ago.  
  
Everything in the world was the same-old, same-old. And yet, it wasn’t. It was such a weird feeling.  
  
“Alya? You haven't touched your food, is something wrong?” All the eyes at the table were suddenly directed towards her.  
  
“...no, just a long day. That's all.”  
  
Alya shifted her eyes down at her plate. The poor meal had been prodded at by her fork so much that the meat was covered in holes and the salad was torn to shreds.  
  
She stuck a fork full in her mouth, eyeing the other plates - all nearly empty while hers was still full.  
  
Thoughts aside, she wasn't that hungry to begin with for some reason. She wasn't sure what she was feeling, every emotion in her as vague as they could be.  
  
This whole thing was not a dream, but not completely real either.  
  
Surreal. She’ll go with that for now.  
  
Alya quickly stuffed her mouth to finish the meal, excusing herself from the table to finish her homework.  
  
But even when she returned to her room, the fox stayed in her den, completely silent and out of sight.  
  
If it wasn't for the necklace, Alya would have thought this all to be some absurd daydream.  
  
Wasn't becoming a hero supposed to be a whirlwind event? Something crazy happens and you're forced to hit the ground running? Heroes were called to action because an equal evil also appeared. The necessity was instant - otherwise, why else need a hero?  
  
Detached - That's what she had been feeling. Having an ancient magic item in her hands didn't really feel like she was any closer to the heroes she idolized.  
  
Giving those feelings a name brought Alya no comfort. She checked the blog for comments from today’s attack and got ready for bed. Slipping under her comforter, she glanced at the jar before turning to her side and trying to sleep.  
  
Even sleep was as half-baked as the rest of the emotions in her.  


* * *

  
  
“The magic words are ‘Paws Out.’”  
  
Alya opened her eyes. She squinted at the orange blob in front of her face, sleepily muttering “Paws-?” before the fox placed her paws over Alya’s mouth to silence her.  
  
“Let me explain first. It's late out so people probably won't see you, and you're not supposed to go out anywhere in the suit until we meet with Ladybug, Chat, and your new partner. But you can't sleep. So...I guess I'll give you a break.”  
  
This news made Alya sit straight up instantly, slapping her hand around the nightstand for her glasses and shakily putting them on.  
  
“You really mean it? I can go transform?”  
  
“But-” the kwami held up a paw, probably signifying a number of conditions if she'd had any fingers. “A couple of rules: no leaving the rooftop of this building, do not let anyone see you, and do not attempt to use your powers at all because I haven't told you the words to activate them. Got it?”  
  
Alya nodded back with fervor, one leg already stuck outside her blanket, ready to stand up.  
  
Trixx seemed satisfied with this and smiled back. “Okay! Any breaking of these rules and you won't get anymore info until after we meet with the others.”  
  
Alya nodded again, slower this time while laughing. “Alright mom, I got it.” She stood up, looking around the room for her keys and her shoes. She paused for a moment, just feeling the necklace with her fingers.  
  
Now this was the moment she'd been waiting for.  
  
Trixx floated up and nestled in Alya’s sweater pocket. She snuck out of her room and quietly out the front door into her apartment building's hallway.  
  
“Are you sure you can't tell me how to fly at least?” The stairwell echoed with her steps and her voice, reverberating against the walls.  
  
She could feel Trixx shake her head in her pocket. “Do you want to be found and attacked before you can use your powers? I think not.”  
  
Alya paused, looking behind her down the spiral stairwell to make sure the coast was clear. “Ooooor you can tell me how to use them in case someone finds me anyway.”  
  
“How about I go back downstairs and you can't transform at all?” the fox smugly shot back.  
  
Alya only grumbled in response in resignation, focusing on running even faster up the stairs.  
  
She pushed the creaky door open slowly, feeling the cool, night air rush in against her face.  
  
Despite her stern attitude so far, when Trixx emerged from her pocket, the fox was just as giddy at the opportunity before them. Her grin was impossibly wide, taking up most of her tiny face. “Ready?”  
  
“Trixx, Paws Out!”  
  
The warm orange light washed over her, and Alya couldn't help but follow its path with her hands in amazement. A sleek suit formed over her, similar to Volpina’s. As the light passed over her neck, the necklace changed into its familiar tail form.  
  
Alya ran her hands through her hair as the orange light faded. Her hair felt more full for some reason, and then she bumped into something. She tugged, instantly feeling pain.  
  
“Ow- what?” Her hands pulled away, and she felt something flatten against her head.  
  
Wait.  
  
With some focus, she felt the objects on her head move upright again, and carefully she traced their length.  
  
It was oddly reminiscent of the pet bunny she had as a kid.  
  
“Oh my god,” she whispered, feeling the fuzzy outsides of her new set of ears to their tips and giggling. “I'm a magical furry.”  
  
She was a superhero. She was an actual miraculous superhero!  
  
Alya couldn't help the giggles that continued to push up through her. The muscles in her cheeks were beginning to ache from the smile yanking at her face - but oh man, this felt amazing.  
  
Even if she could talk about it on the Ladyblog, she wouldn't have words to describe it.  
  
Alya’s fox ears suddenly stood alert as she heard a long scream in the far distance.  
  
Instinct had Alya stepping forward and reaching for her phone - both which were not possible at the moment. She leaned forward as much as she could to stare out for any signs of an akuma, but found nothing.  
  
The scream was lost in the midst of a lot of sounds she suddenly noticed around her. The ears on her head twitched to angle in another direction, picking up distant chatter, music, and even the sound of cars in the nightlife of the city.  
  
Super hearing! She had super hearing too!  
  
But that scream…  
  
Alya narrowed her eyes in the darkness, seeing clearer than she ever had in her life before. There wasn't anything out there that seemed like trouble.  
  
Maybe...was it just rowdy people having a night out? Akuma usually caused more trouble than just one scream. Hawk Moth made many dramatic villains that want to be seen, that's for sure.  
  
It didn't seem like anything else was happening. Maybe Trixx was right to not teach her to fly right away, she silently admitted to herself with a shrug. For sure she would have bolted to the source of the sound if she could.  
  
And even if there was an akuma, she had no idea what to do. A hero being reckless helped no one, not in comics and definitely not in real life.  
  
Alya peered at her balcony below her and leapt down, passing through her window to sit at her desk.  
  
A little longer in the suit wouldn't hurt anyone if she was just hidden in her room anyway.  
  
It wasn't often that she made journal vlogs only for herself—mainly for important events where she wanted to remember how she felt that time, like Ladybug’s first day or the day after her dad was akumatized. Just a chance to ramble and figure things out.  
  
Of course, this was definitely one of those special occasions.  
  
Alya surprised herself when she turned on her webcam. She couldn't help staring at her new look, even with the video already recording.  
  
Her new set of ears soon relaxed from their alarmed state. Golden eyes replaced hazel and her red hair now faded to white at the tips.  
  
It was no wonder Alya couldn't find Ladybug in person—not if she changed appearances too.  
  
She looked straight into the lens and took a deep breath, “I'm-”  
  
She paused before breaking into laughter.  
  
Why did she suddenly feel so nervous? She'd done this so many times! Taking to a camera was as natural as breathing.  
  
Then she realized - what was going to be her name? She didn't bother to ask Trixx, but she sure as hell didn't want to share the same name as a villain.  
  
She recalled Ladybug’s hesitant pause the first time Alya had met her and asked for her name.  
  
Without even pausing the recording, Alya pulled up a search for fictional fox characters. It wouldn't be a good idea to just steal one from an already existing comic book, but they had to get their inspiration from somewhere. She mulled over lists of names from different countries, but the easiest answer was the one she picked in the end.  
  
“Okay, take two.” Alya clapped her hands to mark her place even though she wouldn't be editing the video - it was just out of habit.  
  
“I'm Reynard, hero of the Fox Miraculous, master of lies and illusions for the force of good. That’s who I am, and I want to prove that to you, people of Paris. I can't wait to work together with everyone and kick major akuma butt! I want to stop Hawk Moth and expose his real identity to the world in the name of justice!”  
  
Yeah, that sounded just about right! Not exactly a creed but it's a start to forming her superhero identity.  
  
She spent another ten minutes just talking out loud while she was fiddling with her flute on camera. It looked like playing it took more effort than just pressing down on random holes and blowing into it and there was a sliding portion that opened a communicator. (Disappointingly, no contacts were preregistered in it. However, it did have internet access! That was at least impressive for an ancient magical item.)  
  
There was only so much Alya could figure out on her own, and she knew that. There had to be more - like Ladybug and Chat’s special powers, she had to have one too, and Trixx even mentioned another partner at some point.  
  
“They usually are forced to detransform after they use their special power, but there has to be a way to do it voluntarily… how does that work then? Paws in?” Alya questioned, shivering as the same orange light quickly passed over her, leaving her in her pajamas.  
  
Trixx appeared and landed in Alya’s open hands. The fox’s eyes were half-lidded, already looking toward her den instead of her partner.  
  
“So-” Trixx held up a paw again. “But my partner-” Both tiny arms formed an 'X'.  
  
“Sleep. I'll tell you more tomorrow. You're still a student, you know.” Green eyes met Alya’s with a stern look of finality. “I'll need more berries to recharge, so we gotta get up early to get more on the way.”  
  
Trixx went straight for her den, leaving Alya the only option to climb back in bed after burying the recording deep in a number of folders for safety.  
  
If she couldn't sleep before transforming, there was no way she could sleep now. Two o'clock came and went and Alya was still restless. She'd gone through all the new forum posts on the blog on her phone by now.  
  
No reports of an akuma, so it looked like Trixx made the right call to not tell her how to fly.  
  
She turned to face her desk where the kwami slept. “Hey Trixx?”  
  
A groggy voice answered back in the darkness. “Go to sleep.”  
  
“But-just one more question-”  
  
“We've got a week to learn the ropes before we meet everyone. Go to sleeeeeeeep.”  
  
“Alright, fine.” Alya placed her phone back on the nightstand. Instead of turning away again towards the wall, she settled under her sheets still looking at Trixx’s hiding spot. “Good night, Trixx.”  
  
A soft laugh. “Good night, my girl.”  
  
Ancient gods snored loudly, apparently. But waking up groggy the next morning and getting to realize for a second time that everything was real was more than worth it.


	2. The Same Moment As the Sun

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chloé was loved. Of course she was loved. But she wanted to be beloved by everyone. By her peers, by the city, by Ladybug herself.
> 
> She didn't want to surpass Ladybug in the city's hearts, but come on. Who wouldn't even dream of being loved like her?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was hoping to get this up in a week and a half after the first chapter, but circumstances have been rough lately. However, this is a p long chapter, so I hope it's worth the wait! Things will start kicking off right after this.
> 
> Just like usual, find me at crispypata on tumblr!

“And bring me up dinner in an hour!” Chloé shouted to the butler, who was already retreating down the hall and away from her room.  
  
Chloé shut the door and dropped her purse on her bed before flopping onto it herself. The soft down of her comforter swallowed her up, soaking out all the irritation in her body. It was such a long day and it was already dark outside.  
  
Stupid guests tripping over themselves and making her trip too. Out of the kindness of her heart like a good hostess to her hotel, she explained with adoration who Ladybug was to a little old tourist, and that was the thanks she got.  
  
It's her obligation as Ladybug’s number one and most exclusive fan anyway.  
  
Whatever. If he had the money to pay for a room at her hotel, he could gladly pay for her dry cleaning. He should at least invest in proper clothing. No one even wore floral shirts like that in real life anymore - the last time Chloé saw that was some creepy old guy who exterminated ghosts in one of Adrien’s cartoons.  
  
“Oh, right! He better not have damaged my ring!” Chloé plucked the gift box out of her purse.  
  
Or she would have, if it was the carefully gift-wrapped box from the store. Instead, she pulled out a weird black box. Inside was not the designer ring she just bought this morning, but an old, tacky, wooden comb with childish decorations. Kind of like wings-  
  
Chloé didn’t get the chance to get a good look at what it was before a bright yellow light encapsulated the box in her hand. She flung the box at the ground with a shriek.   
  
The light faded, and a giant bee was in her room, staring right at her. It's bug eyes widened even more in surprise.  
  
“Oh, another rich one! Thank goodness,” it said, moving closer.  
  
“BUG! DADDY! CALL THE EXTERMINATOR!” Chloé screeched, scrambling for her phone and for cover, crawling to hide behind her bed. With horror, she realized her phone was still in her bag, right by the monstrous thing that was coming closer-!  
  
“Wait! I'm not a bug! I'm going to make you a hero like Ladybug!” Its tiny voice eased.  
  
Chloé immediately froze, still holding a shoe in the air, ready to throw. She peeked over the side of her bed at the yellow bug and its creepy eyes.  
  
“You… you can make me like Ladybug? Can you prove that?” She shook the shoe in her hand as a threat, which hopefully came across stronger than her shaking voice.  
  
“Where are my manners? I'm Pollen, the soul that lives in this miraculous that you just threw on the ground.” The bee, Pollen, bowed politely.  
  
Chloe looked to the box on the floor and back to the giant bee, Pollen. “That old thing? What does that have to do with anything?”  
  
“Ladybug has her earrings, Chat Noir has his ring, and I am the host of the stone in the bee comb - the bee miraculous.” The bug picked up the comb from where it fell on the floor and laid it in front of Chloé on the bed before backing up again. “If you accept, then you're the hero of community and connections. Many of my past partners have been nobility or people that have come into high power through the skills they have learned from me. It may have been some time since I was last awakened, but I still know a thing or two.” The bee smoothed out the collar of fluff around their neck with pride as if it were a luxurious fur scarf.  
  
Chloé cautiously put her shoe back on and picked up the comb, turning it around in her hands. Only now she noticed it changed shape compared to when she first opened the box. “Well, since I am her closest friend and fan, it's no question Ladybug would be glad to have me-”  
  
Pollen put her tiny hands on the comb, keeping it still. “Oh no, my dear. Ladybug doesn't know you will be one of her new partners and will not know under any circumstances! You are forbidden to breathe even a hint for your and your family’s safety.”  
  
Chloé stared at the comb, then looked up at Pollen’s serious expression (or as serious as she could emote through her narrowed eyes alone).  
  
She wasn't chosen by Ladybug?  
  
That had to be a mistake - of course, who else would be meant for this role? No one was as devoted to the heroine as her - that blabbermouth Alya would broadcast it to the world if she ever had an opportunity like this.  
  
...but if this was dropped by accident by the old man who tripped her earlier, then what did that make her?  
  
Sure, if he meant to give it to her, he could have just given it to her once she proved her devotion to her hero...  
  
No. Chloé knew she was meant for this. If it was an opportunity to prove herself, then she was more than willing. She had to. That was the end of it.  
  
“So I wear this comb and I can be a hero like Ladybug?” She managed after stopping her line of thought. Chloé paid more attention to the comb than her companion. It looked different for some reason. At least it wasn't so gaudy now.  
  
“It’s all up to what you want, what kind of hero you want to be, and what good you want to do.” This finally captured Chloé’s attention.  
  
What she wanted…  
  
Chloé was loved. Of course she was loved. But she wanted to be _beloved_ by everyone. By her peers, by the city, by Ladybug herself.  
  
She didn't want to surpass Ladybug in the city's hearts, but come on. Who wouldn't even dream of being loved like her?   
  
Chloé picked up the comb and felt its weight in her palm. “Any chance you can make this more, you know, modern? Or prettier at least?”  
  
“Nope, but I can show you how to hide it if you’d like.”  
  
Without acknowledging the answer, Chloé moved to sit at her vanity. Slowly, she stuck the comb in the base of her ponytail and shook her head around. It didn't really help hold her hair like this, but she wasn't about to change her hair. Top buns were so two years ago.  
  
The bee on the comb was much smaller and now engraved in a smooth, translucent amber. Better than before at least, so it wasn't a giant beacon of “Hey! I’m a superhero, come and get me Hawk Moth!”  
  
She shivered at the thought of his presence. Not that she could even remember anything besides a heavy haze like a bad dream anyway. Not that she even wanted to know firsthand what it was like to fight Ladybug either.  
  
“So what's the secret password? Transform me? Buzz off? That's how it works on TV, right? You say a magic word and you transform.”  
  
“It’s ‘Stripes On’ actually, but we will get to those magic words later...”  
  
The kwami’s voice drowned out in the background as Chloé stared at herself in the vanity.  
  
She couldn't believe the TV shows were right about that. What else was the same? Did magic fix her hair and made sure her makeup was as set as before she transformed? No hero would look good with sweaty, runny makeup… maybe it was time to invest in a new setting spray.  
  
But no, Ladybug always looked perfect. Chat Noir had that unruly hair, but it stayed like that no matter what damage he took. Maybe it would all be okay.  
  
“...Now, you'll have some training on your own for now. You'll meet Ladybug and Chat Noir and your new partner once you get the hang of things and accept your role.” Pollen’s voice faded back in as she calmly listed out these things, but none of that really mattered.   
  
Chloé snapped out of her thoughts. “Are you kidding? I want to start now!”  
  
Jolting up from her seat, Chloé went over and threw open the door to her balcony. She stood on the threshold, staring out into the night.   
  
This was it. The proof of everything.   
  
“Pollen, Stripes On!” she called, turning to face her companion.  
  
The bee’s eyes widened in alarm. “No, wait-!”  
  
The kwami suddenly zipped towards Chloe who automatically ducked in response. There was a weird feeling against the back of her head, with a bright light that passed over her face that made her shut her eyes.  
  
“Pollen? Where did you go?” Chloé turned around in a circle, looking around the room but not finding her partner. “Pollen?”  
  
Weird. The kwami probably didn't ditch her. Come to think of it, it's not like Ladybug or Chat had tiny creatures following them in battle. Did Pollen...become the suit? Did she get launched out the window?  
  
Chloé shrugged to herself. Well, things should be fine. It's not like she's jumping off to fight an Akuma right now, it's only like trying on clothes before you buy them.  
  
Speaking of…  
  
Chloé moved to her closet and took in her new look in the tall mirror. It was a suit just like Ladybug’s; yellow with black stripes all over. It even came with a yo-yo!  
  
She already knew yellow was her color, maybe this was fate after all!  
  
“The mask is pretty cute too!” Chloé pulled at an edge and marveled how it didn't budge. Perfect, so her identity was safe like this! No one would ever be able to tell.   
  
She struck a few fighting poses in the mirror with excitement.  
  
“Look out, Paris! Your new heroine is here!”  
  
...right, she needed a name!   
  
“Ladybug’s name is in English, Chat Noir is in French...Volpina was Italian, but she wasn't even a real superhero anyway,” Chloé scoffed to herself, pacing back and forth in her closet and looking at her clothes for ideas.  
  
Can't she just get someone to think of a name for her?  
  
Then her eyes landed on her hair accessories, namely the tiaras from past birthdays.   
  
“Duh! What else would I be?”   
  
She picked up a tiara and placed it on her head. “Queen Bee is here to save the day!”  
  
Chloé giggled to herself and hopped in place. The tiara quickly fell off her head, and she managed to catch it.   
  
Maybe she won't wear the tiara. They'd be so easy to replace, but she didn't want some hobo snatching them up if they fell off her head in battle.   
  
She put the tiara back and wandered out into her room, unsure of what else to try.   
  
There was still the yoyo. She plucked it off her waist and strung the ring around her finger, weighing it in her palm.   
  
The sliding door to her balcony was wide open to her side.  
  
Well, maybe just one tiny trip to the next rooftop and back wouldn't hurt. It's not like Hawk Moth lives in this building or the one next door or anything. It’ll be fine!  
  
Besides, all that time spent practicing yoyo tricks paid off! She’ll show Pollen exactly how prepared she is.  
  
She was practically born ready for all this.  
  
Chloé leapt up on the rail of her balcony and jumped out, casting out the toy with all the strength and practice she had in her.  
  
She knew how yoyos worked! Just like Ladybug’s, it would wrap around the chimney below her, and she could use it to pull herself down across the gap to the next roof. Easy as-  
  
The string ran out and the unattached “yoyo” flew out with a flick of her wrist, sailing off across the roof of the building next door until it landed and rolled in a circle.  
  
Instead of swinging across the sky, Chloé kept falling.  
  
Her limbs scrambled for something and caught onto the floor of the balcony. One heel hooked in between the bars in the rail, and her hands grasped the floor’s edge.  
  
Her lungs burned, and she belatedly realized that she was holding her breath. No matter what her mind commanded, her body had betrayed her. It was completely locked up out of fear.  
  
She was helpless.  
  
Somewhere in her mind, she remembered that the heroes could lift each other and themselves out of situations like this. Yet her arms stayed locked straight as she held on.  
  
Even worse, they burned like hell right now. She wasn't sure how much longer she could hold on.  
  
She wanted to call out for help - she sent away Sabrina and her staff for the time being, but surely someone could save her - but there would be no explaining her way out of this without her identity intact.  
  
Not to mention this was not the publicity Ladybug and Chat Noir needed right now. And definitely not the first publicity she wanted!  
  
Spots dotted her vision, and her chest ached for air. Everything was starting to feel numb from the strain and awkward posture. Her foot slipped out of its hold and caused the rest of her body to swing with the momentum. It carried her too far out and broke her grip on the balcony. Instinct finally overcame fear, and Chloé desperately sucked in a deep breath to scream.  
  
With that breath, her descent quickly slowed to a stop.  
  
All she could hear was the pounding of blood in her ears. Minutes passed before Chloé’s mind unstuck itself and she actually took a look at herself.  
  
She was flying. She was actually flying, hovering still within reach of her balcony.  
  
So, bugs could fly after all! Take that, Pollen! She could figure everything out just fine!  
  
Chloé experimented, hovering a meter in each direction. It completely weirded her out how a dull vibration beat around her body as if she actually had invisible wings. If they were actually invisible, she wasn't doing anything to move them and they didn't actually push the air around her. Weird, but whatever. It's magic!  
  
She flew up as far up and as fast as she could in one shot.  
  
Aimless, only focusing on the drag of the wind whipping around her, she rose up into the clouds. Golden lights from the city below cut up into the dark gray of the sky around her.  
  
She laughed recklessly, heading up until the sky had all meshed into a single dull color and then turned around to look down.  
  
Billions of tiny lights, reflecting what the night sky probably looked like beyond the clouds cast over them.  
  
Chloé stretched out her arms and saw all those lights, some moving through the streets that flowed like streams.  
  
“This is all mine now,” she muttered in awe in her next breath, barely audible even to herself.  
  
This was the city of light and love and the city that she lived in. This was the city Ladybug and Chat Noir protected. And now, the city also belonged to her.  
  
Chloé never felt this relaxed before. The fear and nerves had faded like they were left behind with the ground.  
  
It was odd. She really couldn't remember being this happy. All her dreams were coming true and just…  
  
All she could do was laugh and cheer, looping around in the sky. There was so much to do now! She needed to meet her heroes and to learn how to use her powers, and so much more!  
  
Her happiness was cut short by a faint tugging sensation in her heart.  
  
Almost as if it was struggling to free itself from her chest, her heart suddenly beat wildly - impossibly fast, millions of beats within seconds. Her head, her body, her ears - it filled her with something like the fluttering of thousands of hearts at once, buzzing and physically rattling her to the very core.  
  
And with all the uncountable sensations in her, it felt like there was an invisible string for every single one of them that hooked on to her. She could feel every individual pinprick attach to her suit and skin. Like a snake, each invisible string tightened around her.  
  
“What-?”  
  
With the force of what felt like thousands of threads pulling at once, Chloé was ripped out of the sky.  
  
“No no nonononono! Go up! Go uppppp!” she cried out, limbs uselessly struggling against the drag of air as she continued plummeting down.  
  
Clouds were passing her by in a blink of an eye. The wind cut against her skin and gravity painfully pulled her hair and limbs backwards in its wake. The lights below, just a moment ago the size of ants, were now getting larger and clearer.  
  
“I don't wanna die! I don't wanna dieeeeeeee! Someone help me!”  
  
Chloé ran out of air to scream with once again.  
  
She could see the detail on the roofs of buildings around the hotel and count the deck chairs around the pool. Instinctively, she leaned her body towards her balcony, but that was the limit of control over her descent.  
  
Darting closer only made the vibrations rattling her head even stronger. The buzzing was almost deafening and covering her ears wouldn’t block it out.  
  
“Make this stop!”  
  
Chloé forced her eyes shut as her balcony came into view below her. Her body tensed up, and she held her breath to brace for the impact.  
  
It never came.  
  
She first pried one eye then the other slowly open.  
  
Her nose was mere centimeters from the floor of her balcony. She barely hovered far enough that her breath bounced back from the ground to her face.  
  
“Ha ha… ha ha hahaha!” she laughed.  
  
And then suddenly her whole body made contact. Chloé groaned in reaction at the feeling of her head knocking against the concrete floor. Even more weird, besides the initial thud the pain was nonexistent.  
  
But the fluttering was still rattling her up inside and wasn't going away.  
  
Chloé fumbled with her ponytail, grasping around for the comb and not finding it with shaky hands. “Let me go! Stripes off!”  
  
Pollen was ejected into the air and thrown onto the bed. She rolled until almost falling off the edge before hovering up into the air.   
  
Chloé stomped forward towards her, stopping at the opposite side of the bed. “What was that?! Are you broken or something?”  
  
The tiny bee kwami crossed her arms and narrowed her eyes. Those bug eyes were getting annoying really quick. Without pupils, it was impossible to tell what she was trying to express.  
  
Pollen only stayed quiet for a couple seconds as she jiggled a foot. “I'll need more info. You’re a tougher case than the others,” was all she cryptically mentioned, uncrossing her arms.  
  
“What do you mean? What kind of dark magic stuff did you infect me with? Take it back!” Chloé pointed at her ponytail, leaning in over the bee as close as possible.  
  
Pollen blinked slowly, eyes still just as unreadable as she stared at Chloé. Blue and multifaceted, their expression didn't change as the kwami bluntly stated, “You aren't under the effect of any magic right now. Using your powers outside transformations takes more concentration than you currently have.”  
  
Chloé stumbled backwards. The back of her knees hit her lounge chair, making her sit down. “What do you mean? I can still feel all of those weird feelings around me right now, that's not normal-”  
  
Pollen simply closed her eyes and shook her head.  
  
“Nothing changed, Chloé.” The kwami sat down on the bed, as if this new knowledge was almost too much for her to take in too. “I just realized the kind of person you were. You just shut out everything before. You chose to ignore every person around you to your liking. You don’t listen, you don’t see anything if they threaten your point of view. That's the kind of person you were.”  
  
“Were…?”  
  
The fluttering feeling had faded out to silence.  
  
“Even if you gave up the miraculous now, you can't go back to that way of living.” Pity sat in the undertone of Pollen’s words, inexplicably bubbling up irritation in Chloé’s blood.  
  
Pollen opened her eyes again with a sense of finality, looking straight in her keeper’s eyes.  
  
“You really didn't know? That was the presence of everyone around you. Up there, you felt the entire city, but now you’re closed off safe in your room. People have always been there. It's not their fault you never took notice. It's always been you.”  
  
“Stop talking like that and tell me what you mean! That can’t be normal!”  
  
It made no sense. It made absolutely no sense, and yet there was some part of her that was getting scared. As if a voice in her head was whispering that they shouldn't go there.  
  
“I said it clearly already. Maybe we should try something else.”  
  
“What?”  
  
“I'll give you a test. You’ll see.”

* * *

  
  
Chloé was forced out of bed by Pollen an hour earlier than when she usually woke up. While Chloé prepped herself, the bee kwami was oddly absent. Shouldn’t a good mentor be around at all times or whatever, like Nathalie was to Adrien?  
  
Chloé paused as she tied a black scrunchie around the comb, turning her head around in the mirror to check if it was completely covered.  
  
Well, if Pollen just stayed quiet from here on out at school, it would make things easier. The kwami would just hide out in Chloé's bag-  
  
The bag that Sabrina always carried for Chloé and retrieved things out of.   
  
Ugh, if she's supposed to be a queen bee, then why does she have to do all the heavy lifting?   
  
Speaking of, Chloé checked her phone. Sabrina was already waiting downstairs with breakfast and their homework.   
  
That was a worry for later, Chloé decided as she left the bathroom and picked up her bag.   
  
The bag buzzed in response.   
  
“What?” Chloé opened it and looked down at Pollen, who was trying to cover something. The bee had moved everything around into different pockets to make space for herself.   
  
“Just making myself comfortable. Now come on, downstairs we go.” Pollen made a ‘shoo’ motion with one hand. “Oh, and can you grab a couple of those jelly packets while you're at breakfast? I haven't eaten since I woke up, I'm starving.”  
  
“Is that all you eat? Just…jelly?” Chloé paused as she shut her door. “Shouldn't you eat flowers since your name is Pollen?”  
  
“Nope. My past queens called me many different names, that's just what stuck. Bees don't even eat flowers.” she answered in a matter-of-fact tone, as if it was the most obvious fact in the world.  
  
Whether Pollen actually called her past heroes queens or she was just stealing the name Chloé chose, it didn't matter. Chloé thought it was clever, and she's sticking with it.   
  
Pollen didn't say anything further after that, so Chloé kept going and entered the elevator. Her mind was still kind of shaken up from last night. On top of that, she wasn't sure what to ask or how to act.  
  
“So, what was that about a test? You better not just dump history on me and quiz me, I'm terrible at history.” Chloé kept her eyes on the button panel, watching for any sign someone else was going to get on.  
  
“Oh right! It's simple, Chloé, anyone can do it! All I'm asking is for you to make one friend and I'll teach you about your other powers.”  
  
“Easy!” Chloé scoffed, flipping her ponytail. “I can get that done by the end of the week. You don't even know how popular I am at school.”  
  
She turned to look down at how impressed the kwami must have been, but Pollen had already returned back inside the bag.  
  
“Were you even listening to me?” she demanded with a scowl, opening her bag with one hand to find Pollen holding the very ring the kwami had been swapped with.  
  
“When did you get that? Give it to me!” Chloé’s movements jerked the purse to swing away from her hand and allowed Pollen the chance to duck.  
  
“You took too long this morning, so I went on a trip in the meantime and retrieved it. Now give me just a second.” Pollen retreated back into Chloé’s purse as the elevator doors opened and more guests got on.  
  
There were only three floors more to go. Pollen's fidgeting inside her bag was irritating her side. The guests got off on the second floor for the gym, leaving Chloé on her own for just a moment more.  
  
Pollen popped back up out of her purse, holding up the ring. “Here, this will help you learn to manage your temper.”  
  
Chloé ignored that comment, and instead snatched the ring away from her kwami. “What did you do?”  
  
She narrowed her eyes at the ring, turning it in her palm to look closer. The ring looked the same except for a row of raised, translucent bumps on one thin edge.  
  
“This will teach you awareness of yourself. You’ll see.”  
  
“I'm plenty aware,” Chloé muttered as the elevator doors opened to the ground floor, and she made her way to the banquet room for breakfast.  
  
Pollen said she wanted those jam packs, right? Chloé plopped down in her seat across from Sabrina at their usual table and instantly grabbed a handful of the plastic rectangles. She carefully dropped them into her bag, then straightened up to meet her best friend’s confused gaze.  
  
“What? It's a new diet!” Chloé snapped before waving down a waiter, giving her order to close the topic.  
  
At some point Sabrina started talking about something. But besides eating her plate of food, Chloé was mentally absent. Her mind wasn't really on anything in particular, just reviewing all the things she figured out on her own last night.  
  
By the time she came back to reality, they both finished breakfast and already moved to the front of the hotel.  
  
Sabrina reached out her hand like usual to take Chloé’s bag. Chloé only stared at her.  
  
“You know what?” Chloé put a hand over the side of her bag, feeling for the kwami’s movement. “You take the limo and go ahead. I have something I need to do first.”  
  
“What?” Sabrina and the chauffeur were both taken aback, more than Chloé expected. Sabrina darted her eyes between the limo and her friend, torn. “Are you sure? We can just stop by on the way, or I can go with you if you’d like!”  
  
“No, this is something for just me. Don't be so fussy Sabrina, I'll meet you there at the front soon enough, just wait up.” Instinctively, Chloé clung her bag even closer to her body. Adding a deep scowl to her face was enough of a sign for Sabrina to not question her further.  
  
“Well, alright. But just call me if you need anything, okay?” The girl’s eyes lingered a little longer before she climbed into the car. A frown creased her face, still visible through the tinted glass. Sabrina probably didn't even realize she could still be seen.  
  
Chloé watched the limo pull away and started walking, looking around for something.  
  
“You want to fly to school, don't you.”  
  
Pollen peeked out of the purse, narrowing her eyes at her partner. It wasn't even a question, more of an accusation.  
  
Chloé kept her eyes up and continued looking for a hiding spot. “I do need to learn how to use my powers, right? Besides it's morning, no one in their right mind is that awake to look up.”  
  
“Alright, just be careful not to activate your powers like last night. Maybe if you do good today, I'll even tell you how to use your special ability.” Pollen looked around them and flew out into Chloé’s cardigan pocket when the coast was clear. “But please transform somewhere discreetly so we don't get caught, okay?”  
  
“It’ll be fine! Now…”  
  
Chloé wandered further down the sidewalk. There weren't a lot of good hiding places around here, but there has to be something…  
  
Back alley of the hotel? Gross, no way. That's where the trash was.  
  
Wandering a couple more buildings down, Chloé found a narrow side street through another alleyway. It was mostly solid brick walls of the surrounding buildings and boards for advertisements, but in the middle of the street there was an empty shop. Judging by the empty displays and cases inside, it was a flower shop. She felt some kind of vague familiarity in her chest as she squinted at the sign - the lettering had been painted over in white and couldn't be read.  
  
Chloé pushed a rusted gate open beside the shop, one that lead to the back. She pulled on the back door and found it unlocked.  
  
“Yeah, this should do just fine! Heroes need a secret base too.” Taking in the interior, it seemed like the shop had closed not too long ago. Only a light coat of dust covered the counters and the furniture was actually kind of cute.  
  
"I can probably get this place cleaned up even, no questions asked," Chloé decided to herself before opening her bag. “Okay Pollen, Stripes On!”  
  
Transformation complete, the hero left through the back door and stood in the shadows, still out of plain sight. Chloé jumped up and breathed in, feeling her body become light and lifting off the ground. Cautiously, she floated up to the roof of the next building and landed.  
  
There was a lot she could see from here. Adrien’s mansion wasn't that far, and the park was even visible by its trees. Those places felt further away than they seemed from here.  
  
Paris was bigger than the map in her head, but the district she lived in was so much smaller from her perspective up here. The car drive to school always seemed so long but it was just over there on the horizon.  
  
Instead of flying, she made long bounds over the rooftops to stay hidden. Even the limo was visible from her altitude and she moved ahead even faster to beat it to the school. To her delight, she didn't even break a sweat. Reaching the rooftop of the school was just as easy as she thought it’d be.  
  
Chloé relaxed and let her senses widen. The fluttering feelings - some still and some moving around, interacting with one another - were now surrounding her, but she could also feel where the fluttering wasn't located. There was a bathroom on the first floor that was completely empty, and the stairwell down to it was clear. Perfect!  
  
Chloé peeked down the hall just in case and bolted over to the stairwell. The restroom was empty, so she took a moment to look in the mirror at herself in this form.  
  
Pollen was right. Those feelings were _people_. She could sense every person in this whole building.  
  
But normal people didn't feel this, right? This had to be a superhero power thing. There's no way everyone could feel every single person around them like this, they'd go crazy.  
  
Or at least, it was way too much pressure for Chloé to never have noticed before. That was saying something - she’d been part of public events and press interviews for as long as she could remember. They didn't feel anything like this.  
  
Pollen must be out of touch. She said she'd been asleep for like, what, a decade? More than one? That had to be it.  
  
Chloé cleared thoughts out of her head and locked herself in a stall.  
  
“Pollen, Stripes Off.” The yellow light flooded the room as she detransformed. “See? I did just fine.”  
  
“We’ll see.”  
  
With that vague response, Pollen returned to her hiding spot in Chloé’s purse.  
  
Chloé opened the stall door and looked in the mirror again.  
  
Everything was in place, she looked great, and no one saw her. This was going to be easier than she thought. All that was left was to find Sabrina and go about her day.  
  
Pushing the restroom door open, Chloé ignored the flutters still fading around her and made her way through the main hallway of the school to the front door where Sabrina was waiting.  
  
There was a number of sharp pains like little bug bites across her arm as soon as she stepped out into the busy courtyard.  
  
Chloé shrieked and pulled up her sleeve, only to find smooth skin.  
  
The other students around her who hadn't seen her yet all turned their heads, making the dots of pain multiply. It was more than that - there was an ugly and heavy feeling that weighed down on her now even though her powers should have already cut out.  
  
A single warm flutter approached her, and Chloé snapped out of her daze upon hearing her name.  
  
“Chloé? Chloé answer me!” Sabrina was shaking her arm, even more worried than this morning when they split up.  
  
‘Even if you gave up the miraculous now, you can't go back to that way of living,’ Pollen’s words echoed in her head.  
  
“Chloé!” Nails dug into her skin painfully, snapping the girl out of her daze and back into reality.  
  
“Ow! What do you want?!”  
  
Sabrina flinched and stepped back - this action actually helped Chloé feel less crowded. It was enough to realize she wasn’t breathing right. “You need to tell me. Is something wrong? Did you run into an Akuma?”  
  
Sabrina's face was clearly worried. Chloé couldn't find it in her to snap back like this morning. Her body was still heavy and she suddenly felt drained.  
  
“Nothing is wrong. I'm just… I’m having an off day.” Chloé’s voice drifted off.  
  
She hoped it was. She really hoped this ugly gross feeling would end soon.  
  
Sabrina didn't seem to buy the answer, but the loyal girl knew better than to really provoke her. Instead, Sabrina walked ahead to open the door to their first class.  
  
Chloé passed ahead of her, only to find the whole class already seated and looking to the door as she entered. A second later, the pinpricks of pain ran up her arm again. She flinched at the feeling but made no noise.  
  
Sabrina followed her in and scooted down to her end of the bench. Like habit, she held out her hand to take Chloé’s bag so that Chloé could sit.  
  
God, having to keep this secret was so annoying. “I'm keeping my bag with me for now on.”  
  
Chloé plopped down in her seat, hugging the purse to her chest.  
  
“You have so much explaining to do,” she fiercely muttered to the bag before fishing out her tablet and placing the bag at her side on the bench away from Sabrina.  
  


* * *

  
  
Since Sabrina was busy with their homework for that day in the library, Chloé again called off the limo and used her lunch break to walk around the school to scope out hideaways nearby. Not to mention she had to prove to her kwami she was hero material.  
  
Honestly, this would be so much easier if the heroes or even her new partner could give some tips.  
  
“Ugh, I just have to find someone to make friends with. I'll show you, Pollen.”  
  
Her hands kept the bag sealed shut so that the kwami couldn't respond. If the kwami even cared enough to respond. Going on about studying this or observing that or whatever. Just because she's a old god-thing doesn't mean she has to rub it in every sentence that she knows everything and that Chloé didn't.  
  
She found herself wandering out of the school and into the park. Sometimes Adrien has photo shoots here, but it was always so loud and with so many people most of the time so she never stopped by herself. Sometimes Chloé would send snacks over when he hid away on his break (her poor Adrikins was practically a twig, he needed to eat way more than what they gave him), but she hasn't actually seen him in action since Mme. Agreste disappeared. After that, M. Agreste didn't like anyone around as a distraction during shoots, Chloé included.  
  
Birds were suddenly calling loudly nearby.  
  
Large black crows were gathering around a bench in the back of the park. A girl sat by herself, throwing out pieces of a baguette to them on the ground.  
  
Her weird hairstyle was easy to recognize along with that tacky cardigan.  
  
Lila.  
  
After all her lies collapsed and her Akuma revealed by the Ladyblog, no one talked to her. Someone with no friends and no one to hang out with - the perfect target. It will be a cinch! Sure, Lila was a weirdo who hated Ladybug, but she would be the easiest to deal with.  
  
Plus, Chloé could imagine how grateful she’d be to get back on the school’s good side again. The girl was never seen with anyone at school outside of necessary group work. She was probably desperate for someone to reach out to her!  
  
“Hey! Lila!”  
  
In the empty park, Chloé’s voice rang out loud and clear, startling Lila and the crows, some of whom absconded to the trees with her sudden movement. The others returned to devouring the bread left on the ground.  
  
Lila, however, stayed frozen in shock. She narrowed her eyes as if Chloé was just a figment of her imagination and not really there.  
  
Chloé walked closer, crossing her arms. “I don't normally do this, but I've decided I'll be friends with you.”  
  
“What?!”  
  
“I said-” Chloé enunciated.  
  
“No, I heard that, I mean what would you even want with me? I don't want to be your new lackey!”  
  
Lila stood up and dumped the bread on the ground. She turned to walk away, but Chloé’s hand reached to grab hers, stopping her.  
  
“What the hell is wrong with you? Let me go!” Lila ripped her hand out of Chloé’s grasp, backing away a couple of steps. “Are you under an Akuma’s spell or something?”  
  
Chloé gaped at her, barely collecting herself before glaring at the girl. “How dare you! I try to do something out of the kindness of my good heart, and everyone thinks I'm being forced to by a monster! Seriously, ugh!”  
  
Chloé crossed her arms and huffed with her head turned to the side. She could feel Pollen humming in warning in her purse, but Chloé knew she was allowed to be angry about all this.  
  
Lila shifted back into a standing position, the motion drawing Chloé out of her frustrated thoughts. Lila’s mouth opened a little, then shut, staying silent before she chose new words with a sigh.  
  
“Nope, that’s you alright.” The girl grimaced, but the tension that suddenly left her posture didn’t go unnoticed.  
  
Chloé fiddled with the ring around her finger, pushing back the frown that tried to press onto her lips. Asking what she meant by that comment probably wouldn't win any more points as it is. Time to salvage this encounter.   
  
“Okay then, since that's settled, you’re still coming with me to the mall after school, my treat.”  
  
“What.”  
  
This time, when Chloé grabbed hold of Lila’s wrist, Lila didn't fight or flinch away. The only friction against her was twisting her wrist so the ring on Chloé's hand wouldn't dig into the bone.  
  
“See? I knew you needed a friend. We’re going to have so much fun, you'll see.”  
  
“What? No, I said let go of me!”  
  
Lila pulled back again, yelling in pain as she twisted her arm and her wrist didn't follow.  
  
A series of loud caws overlapped each other, and the sudden fluttering of feathers grabbed both Lila and Chloé’s attention to the sky.  
  
A flock of crows were descending from the trees right over their heads.  
  
“Wait-!”  
  
Whatever Lila tried to say or do after that was drowned out by the angry swarm of feathers and talons.  
  
Not because the monstrous birds were already pecking and clawing at the other girl’s head, oh no.  
  
Lila stood not even a meter away, frozen in shock as the crows swooped down, attacking Chloé and only Chloé.  
  
With an ugly screech, Chloé tried to swat them away with one hand and cover her bag with the other. She bolted off in a zigzag, but they relentlessly followed. Panic seized her as one clawed foot raked across the back of her head, pulling the scrunchie wrapped around her miraculous loose.  
  
They only followed her to the edge of the park’s gates, but Chloé kept her hand tight around her ponytail and her miraculous until she reached home.  
  
Sabrina was waiting there in the lobby. She jumped up from her seat on a couch and was about to say something - she probably had many things to say about Chloé’s messy appearance - but Chloé cut her off by holding up a finger between them.  
  
“Bad day. Don’t. I'm staying home.”  
  
Sabrina looked even more worried, glancing down at a list on her phone before locking the screen. She pocketed it with some hesitation. “Okay, I'll text you later then?”  
  
“Yeah, yeah.”  
  
Screw this. Screw all of this.  
  
Chloé stomped into the elevator and sent a text to her father to make up an excuse from school for the rest of the day.  
  
There was no way any of this was going to work. There was no way anyone would buy her sudden change of heart.  
  
There was no point to acting any differently outside the mask. All there was to do was be nice in the mask.  
  
Slamming the door to her room shut, Chloé threw her bag on the floor and sat on her bed.  
  
“Ow! Watch it!” Pollen emerged from the bag angrily, buzzing loudly as she hovered in the air away from her wielder. “So you did something wrong, you don't have to take it out on me you know!  
  
She wasn't going to apologize. Chloé crossed her arms. “Isn't there some easier way to prove I'm worthy? Some people just don't make friends, I can't help that!”  
  
“You mean that girl or you?” the bee snarked back sarcastically.  
  
“Her, of course! Anyone else! There's nothing wrong with me.” Chloé stared down into her lap, fighting back the sting in her eyes. “She just must be one of those holier-than-thou people that think they're above money, that's probably it.”  
  
A hum of thought. “Money can buy a lot of things, but it’s true it can't buy things like happiness or love.”  
  
The girl kicked off her shoes and brought her knees against her chest, wrapping her arms around her legs. “Please, of course you can. I do it all the time. And it's because of money that I have my Adrikins. It's because of money that he's in my life.”  
  
The bee scoffed. “That sweet blond boy across from you? It didn't seem like that, not when he _clearly_ didn't want to talk to you all day. We can fix that though-”  
  
That same prickles of pain from earlier at school bit into her skin along with the same heavy feeling settling in her throat.  
  
It scared her that this feeling might not have to do with her powers after all if it felt just as strong this long after detransforming.  
  
“There is nothing to fix! Adrien loves me - everyone loves me! Anyone who doesn't, doesn’t matter!” Chloé stood up, leaning in closer to the bee.  
  
“So you keep saying, then why did you keep feeling pain the whole day?” Chloé froze - she hadn't said a thing about it to the kwami. Pollen seemed satisfied at her reaction, taking her turn to move in closer and tap her partner on the forehead. “You’re not suddenly an empath outside of the suit. That ring only makes you physically aware of what you already know deep down somewhere in your brain. All it does is dig into your skin any time you tighten your fists. You do that because you can feel how people don't like you when they see you enter the room, and I bet it's still hurting right now because you’re angry at yourself. It may not matter to you like you say. But you sure do still care, and that means we have to fix that!”  
  
“You know what? I've had it! Stop doubting every little part of my life like you know everything! Why should I even listen to you?” Without even thinking Chloé reached for the closest objects to her. The comforter was torn away from the bed, and she flung her pillows at the kwami.  
  
“We don't have time for this! I'm trying to understand you, Chloé! I can only help you be a hero like my other queens if I know how to help you!” Pollen yelled back, exasperated as she dodged all the projectiles.  
  
The bed was now empty aside from her ladybug pillow, and Chloé grabbed whatever she could from her nightstand. A hair brush barely grazed the kwami’s antennae and then made a scratch in the wallpaper behind her.  
  
“Will you stop comparing me to your other heroes? I'm not like anyone else. I'm never going to be or remind anyone of anyone else that you think is better. I'm not some thing to experiment on, and you sure as hell know nothing about me more than I do!”  
  
Chloé threw herself onto her bed face first. She laid there overwhelmed, just catching her breath for a while in the stunned silence.  
  
A hero did good things. A hero saved people. That's all that should matter. Nothing else should matter.  
  
Her hands clenched the sheets underneath her painfully tight.  
  
Just let her be. She wanted to move forward and be a hero. She didn't want to look back. She's not a little girl anymore and she didn't want to be pitied.  
  
Pollen’s voice carried from her spot still by the doorway. It was a lot gentler now, in a way that made Chloé’s body tense up with irritation. The kwami's voice sounded as if she understood her partner, and yet Chloé didn't want to listen. “That's what's important for you to learn, Chloé. I may be a god, but I'm not a mind reader,” the bee sighed softly and her voice hesitated for the first time, "I've learned that I have to be strict to get results. I'm sorry if I've hurt you by going too far."  
  
“But you can make me read minds - or people, why can't you?” Chloé’s words were muffled into the sheets, not bothering to turn her head to make herself clearer.  
  
“You’re changing the subject here.” Pollen zipped over to close the distance but stayed hovering in the air above the troubled girl. “What do you need from me, Chloé? You have to let me in so I can understand you.”  
  
Blonde hair whipped up and around Chloé’s face as she shoved herself up to glare at the kwami. “Oh, now you’re actually listening to me?”  
  
Reaching out a nubby paw, Pollen patted her partner’s forehead. “That was all still a brave first try, Chloé. You did you best and that's what matters.”  
  
Nope, she didn't pay any attention to that weird bubbly feeling inside her, not at all. She didn't trust those words in her head, but her heart felt differently. She hated that.  
  
Instead of responding, Chloé pushed herself up off the bed and walked into the bathroom. Her hand froze on the door handle, and she paused in place.  
  
Chloé eyed Pollen carefully before turning away, saying, “Fine, I'll listen to what you have to say, but only for Ladybug. And only if you let me have a say in things too!”  
  
The bee giggled, and this new sudden expression of happiness caught Chloé off guard. She turned back around.  
  
“So you can be more than robotic and creepy?”  
  
The venom in her words went ignored. “Of course, I'm happy to see you making an effort. You'll be a great hero, Chloé.”  
  
The girl didn't know what to do with this sudden show of affection. “...You think so?”  
  
Pollen moved closer, floating at eye level. “I'm sure of it. I'm only hard on you because it's for your own good. I wouldn't have been given to you if you weren't fit for the job. Bad people aren't given miraculouses, so you can't be all that bad.”  
  
Chloé slammed the bathroom door between them, hesitating before looking up at her reflection in the mirror.  
  
She forgot all about the bird attack with this confrontation. The scrapes on her face and the sections of hair tugged out of the careful ponytail almost made her think that it was someone else staring back at her.  
  
At this point, maybe it actually was.  
  
This was just enough to push Chloé'S control over the edge. Gritting her teeth couldn't help hold back the traitorous few tears that slipped out of her eyes.  
  
Pollen was trying so hard to change her from the get-go.  
  
‘Bad people aren't given a miraculous?’ Did they not get along because it actually was by mistake? What was this whole mess?  
  
Her reflection scowled back at her. She forced the muscles to ease. Scowling only caused wrinkles. She wondered if fighting crime did too, but it's not like that was optional at this point, was it?  
  
Even if it was, Chloé knew she didn't want to give it up. She’d be crazy to want that after dreaming about this for so long. (In her doodles in her notes, she was a rabbit, but beggars can't be choosers at this point.)  
  
Chloé knew who she was. She always got what she wanted. She had the power and influence to do whatever she wanted. If the bee miraculous was the one of communication, then there was no other person in the whole city who was already pre-qualified for the role than the daughter of the mayor of Paris.  
  
And more than anything, she wanted to be a hero like Ladybug. Her idol and savior many times over.  
  
So whether this power was intended to be hers or not, she’ll take it and make good.  
  
There was no one else anything like herself. That meant that there's no one else who could do the things she possibly could.  
  
She wanted to do good. She'll prove that she could be a hero after all.  
  
Then that was that, end of argument.  
  
Chloé had slowly slid down against the door while she was in thought. With newfound determination, she stood right back up and threw open the door, startling the kwami who was still floating where Chloé left her.  
  
Pollen seemed just as wary of her as everyone else had been today. Chloé was way past tired of that feeling. People don't treat heroes like ticking time bombs.  
  
Her confidence was there but the words did not come with it. Chloé hid behind the door, peeking only her head out. Her nails tapped against the door as she looked for something to break the prolonged silence. Eventually she settled with, “You wouldn't know how to make this thing easier to hide, would you?”  
  
The bee’s worried expression softened as she processed the question. She broke into a giant smile, taking the invitation to move in closer. “Of course! I've helped style the hair of all my queens. You can trust me on that fact!”  
  
Chloé reached out a finger and poked the kwami on her forehead. Pollen flinched at the sudden and first contact from her partner.  
  
Pollen felt… oddly soft, like crushed velvet. Chloé was expecting what other hairy bugs seemed like - like a tarantula or something.  
  
“When do I get to meet everyone anyway?” she decided to ask, voice gentle as she was distracted by the feeling of fluff around her kwami’s neck.  
  
“One week,” Pollen said happily as she leaned into her partner’s touch. “Oh, there's so much to teach you for just the basics and so little time!”


	3. Cloud Catching

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Could it really be the work of an akuma?" Alya pondered the theory again out loud.
> 
> The Ladyblog forums held no new info from the last few days. Alya kept skimming through with Marinette on video chat on her computer.
> 
> Marinette was busy making something, head tilted down towards her lap and her bangs obscured her face. Her hair swayed as she shook her head. "There's no way. The last akuma happened two days ago and this thing with Chloé started four days ago according to Sabrina. Unless he can have two active at once..."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I guess I should say something more than the usual stuff since I've been silent for 3 months... 
> 
> Fandom in general has just gotten really exhausting for me. Especially with the art theft problem lately, I just lost the drive to create anything anymore. Up until recently I didn't feel like there was a point in working to better myself. 
> 
> But I've worked crazy hard on planning this fic for months before I started posting it. Season 2 is coming up and will probably tear apart all the premises I made up so I want to get as far as I can before that happens. I have 15 more chapters up ahead planned and I think I've wasted enough time as it is.
> 
> I'm trying my best to get out of this slump, so hopefully after the upcoming con weekend I can get back to somewhat regular updates. Till then, I hope 8k words tides y'all over for now!
> 
> Like always, find me at crispypata on Tumblr!

It's been four days since Alya found the necklace in her bag, and Trixx still hadn't taught her how to fly. Alya began and ended each of those four days asking for some information, but the response was always the same.

"Tomorrow maybe," Trixx would yawn while she climbed into Alya's backpack as the two headed out to school, "Let's take a new path to school today. I wanna see the sights!"

Alya gave in like usual, reminding that, "Okay, but I'm not going to stop asking, you know."

Today, Trixx flew out as soon as the coast was clear and hid under her partner's hair, perching on her shoulder. She asked relentlessly about each building they passed but seemed dissatisfied by the answers. Alya could feel the flick of Trixx's ears drooping every once in a while.

Finally, Alya decided to push again, asking, "How long has it been since you last saw Paris?"

She could feel the fox shrink back further behind her hair as Trixx pondered. “Maybe...50 years or so. It's definitely not the same as I remember it."

There was something suddenly distant in Trixx's voice, a tone that Alya hadn't heard yet. Trixx shook her head and pawed at Alya's shoulder.

"I've never been to a school before meeting you though, so show me around there too! I gotta see the library, or - ooh, do you have access to the roof?"

"To practice fox stuff later, or...?"

The fox's tail wrapped around the back of Alya's neck, and Trixx made herself comfortable again on her perch.

"Or," Trixx ended. Alya's face twitched at the answer, stopping herself from trying to glare at her partner. She could feel Trixx silently laughing to herself.

"Speaking of school, you can't tell me anything about the other heroes, right?” Alya asked, already knowing it was a futile question. She could feel Trixx shake her head from her hiding place. “Because I'm pretty sure that a certain lady goes to my school. I have pretty good proof of that.”

“You're on your own, even if or when I find out. It's the rules. I'm probably not going to know for a while myself. It’s a big city after all.”

“But why?” Noticing the people around her starting to look her way, Alya plugged her earbuds into her phone and stuck one in her ear, pretending to be taking a call so she could talk freely. “Why is it the rules? What makes that necessary? Did every generation have to keep these secrets?”

Trixx hummed, tilting her head to each side before answering, “I'll tell you this: the last team knew each other out of necessity. The world was a different place, and the evil from back then had a different goal. They had to know the moment one of them was in trouble, and no one had phones or anything like that.”

Rounding the corner, the school came into view. Alya ducked back behind the corner and opened her bag. “Come on, you gotta hide while I'm at school. If you keep snooping around, I'm going to actually get white hair out of the suit from stress.”

“Psh, you don't need to tell a fox to be sneaky. You won't even know I'm there!” With a salute, the kwami buried herself in a pocket lined with fabric scraps from a scarf.

Alya took a breath and walked on to the school doors. Having a powerful being sleeping in her bag was still something she was getting used to. Just keep a straight face, walk right up to Marinette, encourage her to talk to Adrien, watch her get tongue-tied, laugh about it with her boyfriend as Adrien looks on obliviously, and go to class. Everything would be the same as it always was.

And it was. Everything followed the usual routine, up until the group came into the classroom and sat down. They were the last to enter, but as soon as Alya settled in her seat next to Marinette on the bench, a voice gasped from her bag.

“No way!” Trixx’s raspy voice suddenly exclaimed, muffled through the backpack.

Everyone in the room jumped at the disembodied voice. Chloé, who was looking in her purse, squashed it against her chest with a vice grip. Marinette accidentally shoved her tablet off the table and nearly nailed Adrien in the head as he reached into his own bag. The poor boy still hit his head against the edge of their desk when the tablet clattered on the floor.

Alya kicked her bag gently in front of her while pretending to be confused like everyone else. She ducked and peeked into her bag, glaring at the kwami. Trixx just stared back with wide eyes and her paws covering her mouth. Trixx shook her head rapidly and ducked underneath a pencil bag.

So much for being sneaky. Alya grabbed her stylus pen and tucked her bag away as Mme. Bustier entered the classroom and quieted everyone down.

 

* * *

 

"Hm? Where are the guys at?" Marinette asked as she arrived, looking around the park with a box of food in her hands.

Alya slid her laptop over to make room on the picnic table she was guarding. "Nino said Adrien got called in for a last minute photoshoot thing. He went along to keep him company."

Marinette's eyes widened in surprise. "What? But he already had Nathalie find a replacement for him so we could study today!"

The designer plopped down in her seat, opening the box from the bakery. "I hope these extra sandwiches will still be good later on," Marinette muttered, dejected, "I know the summer collection is almost due, but they've been stretching Adrien so thin on his schedule."

Alya petted her best friend on the head in comfort.

...That’s right, summer was soon. It’s been what, over a year since Alya first transferred here? Now they were in their last year of collège, and all that was left in the next two months of class was exams.

She laughed quietly to herself. The glamorous double life of a secret teenage superhero. How exactly did Peter Parker do it all?

Customers filed in and out of the bakery for their own lunches nearby. The two friends finished up with their meals and were ready to head back inside when they noticed Sabrina stood outside the bakery. Sabrina fidgeted with her phone and her worried expression relaxed in an instant upon finding Alya and Marinette.

She jogged over to the two to close the distance. “Hey! Um, are you free right now? I wanted to ask you two something.”

“Sure, what’s up?” Marinette answered.

Sabrina quickly checked their surroundings before leaning in and whispering, “You’ve noticed that Chloé’s been off lately, right?”

“Off as in completely weird? Yeah.” Alya recalled seeing the Bourgeois’ limo arrive these last few mornings carrying only Sabrina. Chloé would somehow show up in the school later on her own.

“Talking about mega weird, Chloé didn't even insult me this morning when I tripped up the stairs. She just watched me until I got up with this weird look and then kept going.” Marinette’s brow furrowed as she recalled this, as if she was sure she was remembering things wrong.

“That's the thing! She just started acting different a couple of days ago! She keeps insisting I don't have to carry her things anymore.” Sabrina looked around them again before leaning in even closer. “I don't think it could be… but can an akuma make someone nicer? There's just no other way she could just decide to change like that out of the blue.”

“Maybe you're blowing this a little out of proportion,” Marinette offered as she shrugged. “Chloé has been the same person as long as I've known her, and probably for as long as you've known her too, right? I’m sure she'll be back to her own self in no time.”

“Well, we’ve been besties since we were 6, but since we were 8, she's always been… herself,” Sabrina ended hesitantly. “I’ve never seen her like this before.”

Alya mulled this information over before adding in, “Weird as this all is, she’s not doing any harm like this. Maybe Chloé will learn to be nice to everyone and even stop pushing you around.”

Marinette tried and failed to cover up a snort from that suggestion. Alya gave her a quick look to reprimand her.

“I-” Sabrina cut herself off, surprised at whatever she was almost going to say. Instead, she shook her head. “No. Yes, you're right. That would be better for everyone.”

"I can ask around since this is a weird enough circumstance that could possibly involve an akuma," Alya said as she quickly typed down a reminder on her phone. "But in my opinion? The first step in this is to just ask her what's up. You're her best bud, so there's no one she'd rather talk about things with than you. Let me know if anything turns up on your end, okay?"

Sabrina's face broke into relief at this answer. She smiled, now seeming embarrassed that she couldn't come to this solution herself. Alya wondered if she had asked anyone else for advice before coming to the bakery.

"Of course. I'll ask her later and let you know!" Sabrina started off back towards the school, turning back to add, "Oh, and please keep this low key! Don't say you're asking for me."

"No prob!" Alya waved off.

Marinette glanced at her best friend beside her as soon as Sabrina turned the corner. "Do you really think it's an akuma?"

"I don't, but we'll see." Alya shrugged, grabbing the box of sandwiches to bring back to school. "Sabrina should get her answer in no time, and I've learned to not jump the gun with Chloé from last time. Ladybug would be insulted if she knew I thought Chloé was Ladybug, ugh."

“You’re probably right about that,” Marinette laughed, picking up their bags from the bench, “Don’t worry, I’ll help out too.

And so began their secret mission.

Alya asked around during their passing periods, and everyone had something to say about Chloé's behavior lately. No one was sure what to make of her sudden awkwardness.

Like with Marinette, their classmates had some weird interaction with her. Chloé had told Rose that, "it's tacky you only wear one color, but it's a good one, at least," before walking away without another word. To Nathaniel, she asked if she could have one of his Ladybug drawings. She didn't wait for a clear answer under his confused gaze, instead snatching it out of his notebook with a forced, "Thanks!"

More or less, Chloé had put some effort into being "nice" to everyone. Marinette's case was an outlier, but it was still an attempt at concern.

If an akuma was going to make someone nice, they'd probably do it to the extreme. This definitely wasn't it.

It was very fishy, but the more Alya looked at things, the more she could only conclude that Chloé was genuinely (though failing at) attempting to be a better person.

But why?

Sabrina's report at the end of the school day brought none of the answers she was hoping for.

"I just don't get it. She says nothing's wrong and nothing's changed - I keep her schedule for her, so I should know. Like today -" Sabrina pulled out her phone and scrolled through a calendar filled with crossed-out items for this week, then continuing, "She cancelled the dinner with her father and the visiting Baltic ambassadors. That's normal, and we usually go do what she feels like doing instead. But lately she doesn't want me going anywhere with her!"

Alya put a hand over Sabrina's to stop her from scrolling, pushing it lower out of Sabrina's line of sight. "Okay, there's the problem. Have you told Chloé this has been bothering you? I know she can be... selective of what she notices, so she might not know this has been bugging you. Tell her, and she's gotta say something about it then."

Sabrina put up with too much of Chloé's antics. Alya had no idea why the girl was so willing to do the things she usually was coerced into. But the fact that Sabrina was also this worried about her best friend, to the point that Alya was afraid of her being akumatized herself, meant that there was something genuine between them.

She supposed there was still more sleuthing to do. Chloé hadn't said or done anything to Alya yet, so she can see things firsthand. Marinette's experience was an outlier anyway. People can change, but Chloé's inexplicable hatred for the designer was apparently still there. Even all the times Adrien stood up to Chloé to defend Marinette hadn't shown any change in her before.

"Just one more thing," Sabrina said, cutting into Alya's thoughts. Despite her anxious state, Sabrina stood firm, "I know everyone's making fun of Chloé behind her back because of all this. You probably are only looking into this for the Ladyblog because I mentioned an akuma, but she's not as terrible a person as everyone says she is! If she really wants to change who she is, then..." Sabrina’s face only grew more determined, tightening her grip on her phone, "Sure, Chloé doesn’t listen to what people say about her. But she's my best friend, and I'm not okay with it if people won't give her a chance!"

The complete 180 in Sabrina’s mood caught Alya off guard. She held her hands up in defense. “Whoa, whoa, Sabrina. I'm sorry if we didn't seem like we were taking this seriously. Chloé tends to be the target of akuma victims, so I am concerned about that, but I do want to help you out too."

"Everyone's already decided she's a villain! I want to support her, but she can't change if no one's willing to let her!" Sabrina continued, ignoring Alya’s words.

They both were quiet. Sabrina calmed down after her outburst, losing the courage she had.

“Sorry, I just…” Sabrina shook her head and pocketed her phone. “I’ll ask her and let you know. Thanks for your help.”

Alya stared after her classmate as Sabrina hurried down the steps of the school to the waiting limo. For once this week, Chloé was already sitting inside.

If Chloé was going home, then there’s nothing more Alya could look into today.

 

* * *

 

"Could it really be the work of an akuma?" Alya pondered the theory again out loud.

The Ladyblog forums held no new info from the last few days. Alya kept skimming through with Marinette on video chat on her computer.

Marinette was busy making something, head tilted down towards her lap and her bangs obscured her face. Her hair swayed as she shook her head. "There's no way. The last akuma happened two days ago and this thing with Chloé started four days ago according to Sabrina. Unless he can have two active at once..."

Marinette trailed off, tilting her head up to think. She frowned, face scrunching up before she looked back down at the project in her lap. "No, there's no evidence that can even happen, right?"

This was true. Even Marinette's voice was filled with doubt that could happen.

Alya continued from that statement, "Plus, an akuma would make themselves known better. If they wanted to just target Chloé, fine, but Hawk Moth's goal is always the miraculouses. That's why the battles finish so quickly. LB and Chat would know for sure if a victim was still around because of that."

"Do you really think she's up to something?" Marinette asked again. Her eyes met Alya's through the webcam as she put the fabric in her hands down on the desk.

"It's bothering you too, huh?"

Marinette diverted her eyes to the desk. Frustration pulled her mouth into a tight frown and creased her brows, showing how bothered she actually was. "You know how Chloé is. Ever since collège, we've been in the same class each year. I don't get what I even did to make her hate me so much, but she does. Why change now?"

"Just think of it like you're the protagonist of your own story. You have to have an antagonist, like how Ladybug fights against Hawk Moth." Alya suggested with a shrug.

Marinette laughed. "I'm no Ladybug, even if Chloé is as manipulative as Hawk Moth. I can't just cast a magic spell to fix anything."

The designer then sighed, and Alya couldn't help but sense a heavier weight in her best friend's words. Was this still about Chloé, or something else?

"Hey, come on girl - we'll figure this all out just like we did with the whole student elections thing!" Alya said, trying to catch Marinette's attention again. Marinette still stared down at her desk.

Okay, she wasn't going to bring this up since it would make her freak out, but if Marinette didn't want to keep talking about this, it was time for a change of subject.

"Oh right! Did you catch my livestream the other day where I got stalked?"

"What?!" Yup, that definitely caught Marinette's attention. Her eyes were practically bulging out of her head.

Alya stifled her laugh and tried to motion for Marinette to calm down. "It was for the Ladyblog. The paparazzi are starting to follow me to get to her after fights, but I threw them off. No one is getting that scoop before me."

"Do you really want to know who Ladybug is that badly?" Marinette asked, already visibly wary of Alya's answer.

"For both of them, duh! I told you before, that'd be a dream come true!" Alya put her fists up in the air and spun her chair in circles. She stopped when Marinette gave her a look. It was the same look Alya herself gave Marinette when she got too daydreamy about Adrien.

Her best friend still didn't seem reassured. Alya added on, "But not unless Ladybug and Chat tell me themselves. I don't think I've earned the right to know otherwise."

It's not like back then when she got turned into Lady Wifi. Watching the footage after that hazy day, Alya couldn't believe that was her underneath the mask. No - actually, she could. She just didn't want to think she was willing to betray the heroine she looked up to in order to exact her revenge.

Despite Hawk Moth being the one responsible for twisting her emotions with an akuma, he couldn't have done that if the thought wasn't already in her head. It wasn't right to assume she had the right to know such an important secret anymore, no matter how much the Ladyblog sang the heroes' praises.

“Speaking- well, speaking of personal hobbies," Marinette tried to change the subject again, sounding suddenly short of breath. She cleared her throat and continued, "I might be busy with my portfolio starting soon. It's just a heads up since I might disappear on you or something.”

“Internship hunting for the summer?”

Marinette plucked a sheet of paper from somewhere else on her table and held it up to the camera. “I've already found it - Gabriel Agreste's design internship! And a couple others for backups, but more than anything, I'd love to learn from him. How about you?”

Alya lazily leaned back in her chair with her arms behind her head. “I've got my hands pretty full, but I think having one-on-one interviews with the city’s superheroes looks great on a resumé already.”

Crunch.

Alya’s head snapped back to her bed. The chair’s balance was thrown off as she tried to look beside her, and it took a moment of ungraceful wobbling to not fall backwards.

At some point Trixx had opened the bag of fruit candy she had been saving and was loudly crushing the candy in her teeth. Trixx didn't look sorry at all, staring back at her partner with a bored look as she continued chewing.

“Everything okay there?” Marinette called out.

“Oh, my sisters must be done with their homework. I better check that they're not going to demolish the house or something,” Alya laughed, side-eyeing the fox for a quick second to make sure she stayed quiet. “So I guess I'll hang up for now. Let me know how finishing that portfolio is going! Byeeee!”

Alya quickly exited out of the video call and swiveled her chair around to glare at Trixx.

“Wanna learn to fly?” Trixx asked, as plain as if she was asking for the time.

“Now you tell me you wanna teach me to fly?” Alya jabbed back at her partner.

“Ah, also I should mention that I lied. There is no spell to fly. That's not your super special ability.”

“You are a terrible kwami,” Alya snorted while grabbing her phone and keys.

“It’s my sworn duty,” Trixx tried to say with a straight face and a paw over her heart. She started cackling as soon as she said it. “Besides, that's lesson number one of being a trickster!”

“What, lying to people?”

“No, people believing in your lies, including yourself. Now come on, up to the roof we go!”

The fox zipped into her shirt pocket a little too energetically, and Alya winced at the feeling of a few threads from the pocket seams popping. “Watch it, I only have so many of these shirts.”

“I need somewhere to hide, don't I? Why don't you have your seamstress friend add a couple hidden pockets or make you a bag?”

Well, it wasn't a bad idea. If Marinette had time between whatever she’s planning on working on, then maybe.

Alya tried to calm herself, but she could feel her pulse suddenly spiking up as she headed out her front door and into the stairwell. Trixx sat in her shirt pocket, nestled right by her heart. Barely, and only just barely, could Alya feel a second, racing heartbeat against her own.

Alya hurried up the rest of the stairs, drowning out the thoughts in her head with the heavy echoes of her feet against the metal stairway. With no hesitation, she shoved the door open and ran out to the middle of the rooftop. Her feet kept moving, pacing around in a circle before sitting against a vent.

Trixx settled on her open hand to explain as Alya relaxed and got to the point. “So, here’s the thing about why I’m keeping secrets. Seeing - or knowing - is believing.”

“That’s all?”

“If you believe in something, it’s true. If it's disproved, then it's a lie. Even if you tried to fly on your own, the fact that you believed you needed a spell would have stopped you from actually doing it. That's how illusions work - you have to make people believe your lies are true. That is the role you have as the fox miraculous hero, and a lot more,” Trixx’s words sped up as she explained.

“Ladybug sure doesn't like liars,” Alya joked while taking in this new information. While she would have been upset about being so easily lied to, she could only agree it made sense with the explanation.

Trixx flexed her tail around Alya’s wrist as she crossed her tiny arms. “Ehhh, she’ll change her tune once she hears you play yours. Besides, I'm sure she doesn't mean every single kind of lying. No human is that good and honest, even Ladybug.”

“I wish I brought a notepad with me…” Alya didn’t expect to be in for an actual lecture. “So what do you mean by me believing in my own illusions? If I know they're fake, then I won't fall for it.”

“You and your new partner, the bee miraculous, are both responsible for the public perception of your team. You both require a certain charisma to fool people into believing what you say, and both miraculouses are perfect complements to each other in their purpose. And before you ask - no, I can’t tell you anything about the other new hero, got it.”

The kwami really wasn’t going to cut her a break, was she? Trixx watched Alya, waiting until the girl nodded to continue.

“One more thing,” Trixx put a paw over her mouth to think, then nodded to herself. “Yeah, one more thing. Your special ability is kind of like Ladybug’s Lucky Charm and Chat’s Cataclysm, but of course it works to your purpose. Aaaaand what it does kind of changes per wielder, it's like that for all the other miraculouses. That's one more thing to test.”

“Wait, you disappear when I transform, so how are we going to know how to use it?”

“You'll just know. It's hard to explain. Just remember rule number one: Trust me and trust your own illusions. The magic phrase is ‘Will-o-Wisp.”

Trixx floated back up in the air, tail wagging so fast it was almost like a propeller keeping her afloat. The fox’s anticipation was obvious, and Alya figured that’s as much prep as she can get.

“Trust me, and trust yourself, got it,” Alya repeated. She felt her necklace with one hand then reached out to her kwami.

“Trixx, Paws Out.”

The fox gave her one last wide grin before vanishing into the necklace. Orange light passed over Alya, materializing suit out of magic. Almost like the light itself was becoming matter, like it had a weight - throwing any possible physics explanation out the window.

(She remembered Adrien showing them all a clip from a Japanese talk show: that the force it takes for light to lift a girl during a transformation scene in a cartoon would realistically obliterate anyone else who tried to touch it.

...Yeah, with magic involved, real reasoning might not be the best line of thinking. Still, it wouldn’t hurt to ask Trixx about it later.)

The mask appeared on her face and replaced her glasses without any visual change. Lastly, the light created her second set of ears, and suddenly she could hear out of them and process the new sensations like they were always there.

Almost like instinct...

Reynard couldn't help wonder how much instinct played a role in all this. Was there some latent knowledge from past heroes in the miraculous? Even in the case like Hawk Moth where a Miraculous was stolen, he knew how to use his powers somehow, right?

It had to be dormant knowledge then. No past hero would help someone become a villain on purpose.

She kind of wished there was someone actually there to talk to her while in the suit. Trixx wouldn't tell her about any of the past fox heroes, no matter how much she asked. Letting Reynard have freedom to find herself was one thing, but she needed some knowledge of what worked in the past and what didn't.

Well, no use in thinking that way now. Powers first. The last thing she wanted was to be seen before she was ready. 

"Okay, let's see." Reynard prepared herself and hopped down from the roof to her small balcony below. The curtains were open and her empty room was visible.    

If she had to go be a hero, she had to also maintain the blog somehow. First thing to learn was how to make a body double. 

Envision the illusion and make it happen. Trixx made it sound easy, but she wouldn't know until she tried.

“Will-O-Wisp,” the fox hero whispered, focusing as hard as she could to envision herself sleeping in her bed.

She brought the flute to her lips, and her fingers trilled over the holes on their own. It was a weird feeling, like she was possessed in that brief moment that guided her through the motions. Somehow, she just knew the feeling of the magic in the flute - there was a light forming at the open end after she pulled the flute away and pointed it at the window.

Flicking it like a wand, the orange ball of light passed through the window and under the sheets, spreading and forming an exact copy of her normal self.

Seeing the illusion of herself move with each breath was more than uncanny. It was closer to watching a recording of herself - her actual perspective felt more like a separate camera view or something.

Reynard looked down at the flute in her hands and back through the window. She narrowed her eyes and blinked, but the illusion of herself was eerily perfect.

This was one powerful ability to have. She couldn’t imagine what it would be like if the real miraculous ended up in the wrong hands. She wondered if it ever did, or any of the other miraculouses like Ladybug or Chat’s.

That’s another question Trixx probably would never answer. The hero packed that question away with the many others the kwami already ignored and looked out at the cityscape before her.

The sun was starting to set already with just the barest blue remaining in the sky. Orange light crept in among the blue and cast its color in the sparse clouds above. The heat of the day should have cooled down by now but the air was still comfortingly warm.

Something brushed against her back and she jumped in surprise, only to see her own tail moving on its own. Getting used to that thing was another matter altogether.

Reynard sighed and patted her tail back down against her leg to get it to behave.

Now there were two more things she had to try before she turned in for the night. She made herself appear, but she had to be able to make herself disappear too before she could practice flying. A must in an illusionist’s book of tricks. It was too risky to fly around the city before she got any experience in.

Figuring out how to do it should be easy. Just blowing into the flute and pressing randomly on the holes did nothing last time, but she might have it figured out from using her power just now.

Reynard shut her eyes and blew into the flute again, imitating the same finger movements as before. She brought the end of her flute to tap her chest and opened her eyes.

There was a brief shimmer of orange light, then she glanced down at her hands. They looked just the same as before.

“Damn,” she hissed out, turning her head to look down at the rest of her body, “I was sure that would-”

Reynard glanced back up at her window, looking into the glass and seeing nothing reflected back. She felt her fox ears shoot straight up in surprise and waved wildly at the pane of glass, but the window only reflected the orange sky behind her. She tapped the window with a finger and saw the same shimmery light wash over her fingertip and fade again.

“I did it!” she whooped, jumping up with a fist in the air.

First try on everything! No wonder Trixx didn’t worry about her learning this late, it was so much easier than she expected it to be!

Now she just had to find where that instinct is and fly.

Hopping in place on the tips of her toes, Reynard tried to picture what flying looked like.

Trixx said she could do anything if she believed in her own illusions. Just imagine like… how do people fly?

It's a bird, it’s a plane - no, it's Reynard!

Reynard snorted at her own reference.

No, wait. She might actually be onto something there.

Heroes never really had an explanation either behind their powers. They just discovered them or they just naturally can do things. Even comic book heroes from other planets - flying must have come as naturally to them because it's the same as an infant learning to walk to them.

Watching and learning from example. Copying until they become the real deal themselves.

So it was instinct after all, the instinct to learn!

Ladybug and Chat Noir couldn't fly, but she had plenty of examples of heroes who could. Hell, even Trixx glided in the air with ease like it was water!

Now there's a thought - what if she just treated the air as if she were diving into water, or wait, even zero gravity? Or like something she could just walk on?   

Reynard took another breath to calm herself and looked around for ideas. There was another balcony beside hers that belonged to the condo next door - the patio was littered with potted plants, but there was just enough space for a person to stand left. 

It was a little more farther than she probably could leap as a normal person. Should be an easy first attempt, right? 

"On three," she murmured to herself, tightening her grip on her flute with both hands. "One, two, three!" 

Reynard jumped with all her might. In that moment, she realized how much power the suit gave her. Jumping further out than higher up, she was about to careen right into the carefully planted flower box perched on the inside end of the balcony. 

"Wait, wait!" 

Reynard backpedaled her legs, and with the motion, her momentum slowed to a stop in the air above the flowers. Her toes barely brushed the blooms, knocking off a couple petals. 

Well, this is progress. 

Righting herself in midair, Reynard carefully pressed her toes and hands out, feeling the air around her. There was no resistance at all against her touch.

She stepped away from the flowers like walking backwards up a set of stairs and her height adjusted exactly like she imagined.

“This is so unreal…” She trailed off, staring at her feet and crouching down.  It was a confusing feeling where her feet felt secure even though nothing supported them.

Reynard decided not to question it. She was going to be there all night at this rate if she kept trying to figure out how it worked. Time for more testing!

Reynard kicked off as hard as she could, soaring straight up through the sky, and quickly darted past the tops of the buildings around her.

Trixx had been bugging her for so long to take her around the city, but Reynard knew that if she could show the kwami, then this view from above would have been more than enough. The setting sun cast the entire city in a warm glow, close to the orange lights of Reynard’s own magic.

It all had to be a dream, there’s no way this was happening like this!

Some scattered petals glided up in the air around her. Reynard picked out one that stuck to her face and analyzed it. It was also bright orange, like-

“No,” she gasped, looking down at her neighbor’s balcony and the bare green stalks left standing in the flowersill. She cringed, now seeing the multitude of petals caught in her updraft.

Mme. Doncillo will not be happy when her caretaker waters her flowers tomorrow morning. Unlike Ladybug, Reynard didn't have a way to fix things.

She watched the orange petals float back down below her until the initial guilt settled down. It's a lesson learned - be careful interacting with things while invisible.

Reynard looked back out over the city and decided to keep flying around. The whole process required less thought now that she was already in the air.

“Let’s see… where can I go visit?”

A part of her really wanted to show off to Marinette since her best friend had some connections with Ladybug. If only she could - the designer mentioned before that Alya would make a good Ladybug if given the chance. If only she knew that it came true in a way!

Just simply willing herself to move gave her all the precision she needed to maneuvre higher into the clouds and off towards Marinette’s house.

Ladybug and Chat got to see this view of the city over the last year since they became heroes. Reynard knew she had to also stop by the tower and the church since they were the heroes’ favorite vantage points.

The familiar balcony over the bakery came into view. Since the coast was clear, Reynard landed down and knocked on the trap door.

(A little ding dong dash never hurt anyone, and she was supposed to be a trickster after all.)

Reynard stepped back and waited, her tail swishing back and forth. A moment passed. She knocked again, but there was no response. The hero hovered down to one of the windows, but the pigtailed girl was nowhere to be seen in her room.

“Aw man, it would have been funny,” Reynard mumbled, feeling her second set of ears droop as she resigned.

Well, maybe she could drop by again later and try again.

Reynard leaned back until she was lying down in the air. She chewed the inside of her cheek, wondering where to go next. Besides at least the Eiffel Tower, there wasn’t any place she needed to really go right now associated with the heroes. Not to mention, she already knew parts of their evening patrol routes. While she’d like a head start, Reynard wanted to learn everything from the source.

Maybe just some sightseeing for now would do

She slowly righted herself and drifted off back into the clouds. At least the tower would be a good view of the city, she reasoned to herself. Tourist season was kicking in, and floods of people flocked underneath the monument, but luckily for her, she now had access to an even better view. Reynard approached the tower at the viewing deck level, then rose up to the highest perch she could comfortably sit on.

So many akuma battles have centered around this tower - and most memorably, the very first one, Stoneheart.

An important beginning for everyone, and now a year after, Reynard was starting her own beginning as a hero.

No wonder the heroes were spotted here so often. From up here, you could see the network of cars flowing through the streets and the people gathering below the tower to wait for the tower’s lights to come up once the sun finished setting any moment now.

There were a couple light cheers from some tourists below as lights flooded around her in the next moment.

There were just no words. She’d seen panoramas taken from this height but seeing it for herself was a whole other experience! The buildings in the distance had already turned their lights on minutes before, but only now did they stand out. Hundreds - no, thousands of individual lights around her, as if the city reflected the night sky and the stars itself. It was like magic, except this happened every single evening.

She didn’t know how long she had sat up there, just staring down at the people of the city. But the sun had set and her parents would be home any moment now, so it was time to head back.

Reluctant to leave that spot, Reynard jumped up into the air and began sailing home.

Along the way a red cap caught her eye - almost indiscernible against the many lit windows around her. Reynard hadn’t even noticed she was taking her normal path home from school until she noticed whose apartment building she was passing.

Up near the top floor, Nino was leaning out his open window, headphones around his neck and still audibly playing music. His phone was unlocked in one hand, but his head was turned towards the sunset.

Reynard perched herself on a nearby awning. Okay, maybe it was a little bit stalker-ish, but it wasn't often that she saw Nino stuck in his own thoughts. The DJ was always so attentive to anyone around him and willing to give them his full attention.

That was the thing she liked the most about him, maybe. Nino was such an incredibly kind person. She still recalled him going along with her crazy theories that got her akumatized. And when Nino became the Bubbler, it was for his best friend’s sake. Just like Marinette was the friend she needed, Nino was what Adrien needed. Who knew how things would be like today if Nino hadn’t been moved to the front of the classroom that first day?

Nino snapped out of whatever daze he was in, shaking his head and looking down at his phone. He rubbed his head through his cap with his palm before finally typing something.

A gust of wind picked up the same moment he tilted his head down to look closer at his screen. It blew Reynard’s hair into her vision and knocked the loose cap off of Nino’s head.

Reynard reached out the same moment he did. Her fingers caught the hat’s brim before it could fall further, and Nino’s hand brushed over hers.

The same orange light from earlier shimmered from the point of contact until it passed over the rest of her body. All she could do was stay frozen in the air and stare back at the boy in front of her.

Maybe he still didn’t see her. Maybe he saw a glimmer of something but not exactly her. He’d probably rub his eyes and not see anything in front of him and go back to texting or whatever he was doing, thinking this was just a figment of his imagination.

She probably wasn’t that off in her line of thinking because Nino blinked slowly at her until he tugged once at the hat they were both holding onto. Her arm jumped at the action, and the sinking feeling in her stomach got worse as his eyes instantly were drawn upwards at her traitorous second set of ears.

Realization dawned on his face. His mouth began working but not making any words.

“Oh crap,” Reynard breathed, completely unsure of what to do because damn it, she was doing so well today too!

“You-you’re back!” Nino yelled, falling backwards onto his bed and scrambling for his phone.

“Don’t! No no no-” Reynard frantically leapt after him through the window, trying to smother his voice with his own hat. “Shhh! Wait! I… I can explain!”

She shoved the cap over his mouth with one hand and tried to trap him down with the rest of her limbs. Nino groaned in pain as one of her knees hit his stomach. Oops. Reynard readjusted herself so she was kneeling up with her knees on each side of him. Her grip loosened on the hat.

“Sorry. I didn’t want you bringing more attention to me. I promise I’ll go, just let me explain!”

Nino squinted up at her, not taking his eyes off of the hero as he took back his crumpled hat. Reynard couldn’t help but shrink back a little at his gaze, suddenly insecure in her mask’s ability to hide her face.

The boy dragged his body out from underneath her, enough to prop himself up with his arms to meet her at eye level.

“...Volpina?” He cautiously asked. His tone and the doubt on his face clearly read that he didn’t believe his accusation, like he only needed the confirmation from her as proof to let it all go.

“What? No!” Reynard crawled off of Nino and sat cross legged beside him on the bed. “No. You’ve got the wrong fox. You’ve had to have seen the pictures - we don’t look alike at all, do we?”

“The whole fox theme doesn't help.” Nino gestured his hand to all of her in general.

“Well, yeah. But I’m- well, I’m a new hero working with Ladybug and Chat Noir. I already introduced myself to the girl that runs the Ladyblog too, so you can put that away now,” she quickly explained, pointing at the blog open on his phone screen.

Nino glanced down at his phone, placing it behind his back without locking it. “So, what were you doing there? At my window, I mean.”

“Just happened to pass by right when you lost your hat. I was heading home after training, so I’m glad to do my civil duties,” Reynard laughed as she glanced over at the clock on the wall, jumping up to her feet instantly. “Shoot! I gotta get home soon.”

The hero pulled her flute off her back and brought it to her lips. She glanced back up at Nino, who had his hand behind him near his phone again.

Right, she knew him but he knew nothing about Reynard. Communication was key.

“You can't tell anyone you saw me, for both our safety, okay? Can I trust you with that?” Reynard held her fist out to him, watching how he considered her words.

Finally, he nodded and bumped his own fist against hers. “You can. I promise. But can I check with the person who runs the Ladyblog just to be sure?”

He was smart, not saying Alya’s name as a final precaution, but he was also honest in reassuring the hero in front of him. Reynard knew that was more trust she’d get from anyone else in this exact situation.

“Okay, I'm counting on you! Make sure when we meet again, it's like we’re strangers.”

She winked at him and hopped onto the window frame, playing the flute and casting her illusion to make her invisible again.

Without looking at Nino’s reaction, she called out, “See you around!” before jetting off as far ahead as she could in one leap.

Only when she was clear and far up in the sky did she start groaning in frustration.

“Ughhhhhh! I almost made it all evening without being seen! Why did this happen?”

Reynard slapped her hands over her face, fighting down the embarrassment. She kicked off again in mid air and kept going until she reached home and slid open her balcony door.

“Trixx is probably going to have some words, but I think I handled it just fine…”

She jumped in surprise at the sight of her body double still sleeping in her bed. Yikes, she completely forgot about that too.

“Okay, how do I undo this? I just poof it, right?”

Reaching out a hand, Reynard swiped at the fake Alya. Instead of disappearing in a glimmer of light, instead she only hit the fake’s arm. The fake Alya grumbled and pulled the sheets tighter around her.

“Oh god.” Reynard shuddered, watching the fake Alya’s brow furrow and her eyes start to blink open. This was way too weird to process. “Paws off! Paws off!”

A sigh of relief escaped her as the fake Alya disappeared with her own detransformation. The sheets collapsed back flat against the bed as the illusion drifted up in a cloud of orange light. Alya sat down in her computer chair and scooted away until her back touched the opposite wall. Her arms jittered and the uneasiness wouldn’t go away. She brought her knees up against her chest and curled herself as tight as she could, leaning her head on her arms and breathing.

“So that’s how your powers work,” Trixx said thoughtfully as she reappeared out of Alya’s view. “Well, at least I’m familiar with this, so it’ll be a breeze training you.”

“Care to explain? I’m kind of still freaked out here.”

Even her voice was wavering. Jeeze, Alya was so excited for this and yet a single illusion has her practically dissociating. It sure didn’t feel that hero-like.

“Shhhh, it’s okay, I’m here. It happens with all my kits. Too much stimulation in one day,” Trixx rumbled with her soft, crackling laugh as she settled herself in the space between Alya’s chest and knees, fitting like a cradle. She patted Alya’s chin with her paw before snuggling closer and continuing, “Your own special ability is to make tangible illusions. Remember how your invisibility shattered when you made contact with that boy? The ones you make with Will-o'-Wisp are a body double and can perform on its own until you detransform or undo the spell. I can explain that part later.”

“This is normal?” Alya laughed. She couldn’t bring her arms to loosen or her head to lift up any higher to even look at her kwami.

Trixx sensed the twitch of her muscles and nuzzled against the bottom of Alya’s chin, keeping fur pressed against skin for comfort. She nodded slowly, voice soft as she answered, “None of my kits are normal people, like how I’m told you run right to danger when an akuma appears, so maybe my sense of normal is a little off.”

“Just a little,” Alya repeated.

She sat there for a long while, taking deep breaths and settling the nervous thoughts in her mind. Soon her joints were willing to relax again, but Alya found herself reluctant to move. Partly because she still didn’t want to lie in her bed, but also to not wake up the sleeping kwami in her arms.

At least until Trixx started snoring.


End file.
